Government issues notification of ‘Indian Skill Development Service’
The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has issued the notification of setting up of Indian Skill Development Services (ISDS). This service has been created for the Training Directorate of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
The purpose of instituting a formal service in Group ‘A’ category was initiated almost two years back when the Ministry was formed and the union cabinet approved its creation on October 7, 2015. With notification of this service the skill ecosystem is expected to get strengthened and modernised in line with the current scientific and industrial development in the country.
ISDS will be a Group ‘A’ service where induction will take place through Indian Engineering Service Examination conducted by UPSC.
The mystique of Mehrauli Complex
The Archaeological Park in Mehrauli is the site of many a monument and the abode of history. Every lane and stone in it is historical, for here flourished many kings, princes, princesses, wazirs, generals, warriors, saints and mendicants.
Prehistoric tales associate Mehrauli with the descendants of the Pandavas. Later, it saw the building of Quila Rai Pithora which bears witness to the glory of Prithviraj Chauhan. But after the Rai’s defeat in the second battle of Terain at the hands of Mohammed Ghori, Qutubuddin Aibak made Mehrauli his capital and the Slave kings who followed him continued to rule from there.
Then the Khiljis took over and monuments like the Qutub Minar, Alai Darwaza and Alai Minar of Alauddin took shape. The Tughlaqs built their own capital nearby and the Sayyids and the Lodhis also left behind their grand creations.
The Moghuls too built monuments there as they were great devotees of the saint Qutubuddin Bhakhtiar Kaki after whom the Qutub Minar is named.
Near the post office in Mehrauli is a rugged, nondescript building that gives the impression of a fortress, a small one, which marks the site where Banda Singh, the famous Sikh warrior, was executed by emperor Farrukhsiyar. Now more than 250 years after Banda’s martyrdom, a shrine has been built in his memory.
Semi-divine females or yoginis have been an integral part of the Indian folklore. These women were naturally beautiful and had voices which could charm the listener by the emotional intensity of their songs, a sort of heavenly chant which was not of this world.
Many a king and commoner was enchanted by yoginis who appeared suddenly in wood, glen and dale or standing under a gnarled tree or beside a stream where the angler was taken by surprise. A temple dedicated to yoginis is said to have existed in Mehrauli which legend says was built by the eldest of the Pandava brothers, Yudhishtra. It was after them that the part of Delhi not covered by the imperial city of Indraprastha was known as Yoginipura. The temple of yoginis is now referred to as the Yogmaya or Jogmaya mandir.
To its north is Anang Tal, a tank said to have been built by Anangpal or Anandapal, son of Raja Jaipal, who was defeated by Mahmud of Ghazni. Anangpal also built a sun temple close to the Yogmaya mandir but of this no trace remains.
When Taimur the Lame camped on the bank of Hauz Khas in 1398, his historian Sharfuddin Yazdi remarked that the place was not only a good retreat, but worthy of respect for its creator, whom he wrongly thought was Feroz Shah Tughlaq. The tank was actually built by Alauddin Khilji, who reigned from 1296 to 1316.
Viewing the tomb of Iltutmish from inside one instinctively looks up at the sky, for it is roofless. It is believed that the Slave Emperor, who ruled from 1210 to 1235, had asked his beloved daughter Razia not to get him buried under a roof, though there are some who think that the roof caved in during an earthquake. It was subsequently repaired by Feroz Shah Tughlaq, though the original construction was completed by Razia.
The tomb of Adham or Adam Khan in Mehrauli gives the impression of peace and quietude, but it has a turbulent history behind it, a history of rape, murder and bloodshed. The person who lies buried below it is Adham Khan, Akbar’s foster brother, and the son of the Emperor’s wet nurse Maham Anga. He was a man with a great deal of swagger and could not bear the sight of Atgah Khan, the husband of another wet nurse of Akbar’s. So he murdered him one day in the Agra Fort. When Akbar came to know of it he was mad with rage and struck Adham Khan a blow on the head that knocked him down senseless. Some say the infuriated king threw Adham Khan down a balcony of the fort. The monument is rarely visited by women because of the stigma attached to him as a womaniser.
The tomb of Jamali-Kamali is a riddle of sorts. Sheikh Fazalullah was a noted poet and saint who lived through the reigns of Sikander Lodhi, Ibrahim Lodhi, Babar and Humayun. He died in 1536, exactly 10 years after the Moghul rule had been established. His romantic bent of mind found expression in poetry which was highly appreciated and because of this young Fazalu went about with his head high in the air. One night Fazalu paced the green grass up and down as the hours went by and at last saw a form approaching through the trees. Thinking that his beloved had come, he bounded forward and caught hold of the figure draped in a robe. But on parting it found to his surprise that it was an old man who looked like a dervish. Since that night his life changed and he became a hermit himself.
Three surveyors who contributed to our knowledge of India
Dr. Francis Buchanan-Hamilton, generally known as Buchanan, began his assignment in South India after the final Mysore War with the mandate to gather botanical, agricultural and zoological information as well as knowledge about the soil and natural resources found in the area of his first survey.
Buchanan discovered and named laterite as “indurate clay” or “iron clay” and said this soft red soil which hardened on exposure to air and heat was ideal for building purposes, something long known in the area but first recorded for a wider audience, and given a name by him.
The mention of this ‘discovery’ was made in the context of a story related about another ‘discovery’, that of a monument to Buchanan and his ‘find’ in Angadipuram (near Malappuram) in Kerala where he first spotted the material. The monument, one of the 26 National Geological Monuments in the country, has inscriptions in English, Hindi, Malayalam and Tamil describing the material, and recalls Buchanan. The monument was recently ‘found’ while clearing the overgrown garden of the Government Rest House in Angadipuram.
The laterite-Buchanan monument in Anganwadipuram
Another surveyor – William Lambton, ‘the Father of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India’ that led to the map of the India we know.
William Lambton and the European on the Big Temple gopuram in Thanjavur.
Colin Mackenzie,was the first Surveyor-General of India, mandated with creating a Survey of India office.
Helpline for Handloom Weavers ‘Bunkar Mitra’ starts functioning
“Bunkar Mitra”, the Government of India’s Helpline for Handloom Weavers, went live today. The helpline was launched by the Union Textiles Minister.
Info:-
- Justice JS Khehar sworn in as 44th Chief Justice of India
- David Reid Syiemlieh appointed as UPSC chairman.(A History scholar with special works on N-E Indian history (e.g.-Tirot Singh)
Recent Posts
- In the Large States category (overall), Chhattisgarh ranks 1st, followed by Odisha and Telangana, whereas, towards the bottom are Maharashtra at 16th, Assam at 17th and Gujarat at 18th. Gujarat is one State that has seen startling performance ranking 5th in the PAI 2021 Index outperforming traditionally good performing States like Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but ranks last in terms of Delta
- In the Small States category (overall), Nagaland tops, followed by Mizoram and Tripura. Towards the tail end of the overall Delta ranking is Uttarakhand (9th), Arunachal Pradesh (10th) and Meghalaya (11th). Nagaland despite being a poor performer in the PAI 2021 Index has come out to be the top performer in Delta, similarly, Mizoram’s performance in Delta is also reflected in it’s ranking in the PAI 2021 Index
- In terms of Equity, in the Large States category, Chhattisgarh has the best Delta rate on Equity indicators, this is also reflected in the performance of Chhattisgarh in the Equity Pillar where it ranks 4th. Following Chhattisgarh is Odisha ranking 2nd in Delta-Equity ranking, but ranks 17th in the Equity Pillar of PAI 2021. Telangana ranks 3rd in Delta-Equity ranking even though it is not a top performer in this Pillar in the overall PAI 2021 Index. Jharkhand (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Assam (18th) rank at the bottom with Uttar Pradesh’s performance in line with the PAI 2021 Index
- Odisha and Nagaland have shown the best year-on-year improvement under 12 Key Development indicators.
- In the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Goa and Tamil Nadu and, the bottom three performers are Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar.
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers were Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Mizoram; and, the bottom three performers are Manipur, Assam and Meghalaya.
- Among the 60:40 division States, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are the top three performers and Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Delhi appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland; and, the bottom three performers are Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh
- Among the 60:40 division States, Goa, West Bengal and Delhi appear as the top three performers and Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Bihar appear as the bottom three performers.
- Among the 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh and Tripura were the top three performers and Jammu & Kashmir, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh were the bottom three performers
- West Bengal, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were the top three States amongst the 60:40 division States; while Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan appeared as the bottom three performers
- In the case of 90:10 division States, Mizoram, Assam and Tripura were the top three performers and Nagaland, Jammu & Kashmir and Uttarakhand featured as the bottom three
- Among the 60:40 division States, the top three performers are Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa and the bottom three performers are Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Goa
- In the 90:10 division States, the top three performers are Mizoram, Sikkim and Nagaland and the bottom three performers are Manipur and Assam
In a diverse country like India, where each State is socially, culturally, economically, and politically distinct, measuring Governance becomes increasingly tricky. The Public Affairs Index (PAI 2021) is a scientifically rigorous, data-based framework that measures the quality of governance at the Sub-national level and ranks the States and Union Territories (UTs) of India on a Composite Index (CI).
States are classified into two categories – Large and Small – using population as the criteria.
In PAI 2021, PAC defined three significant pillars that embody Governance – Growth, Equity, and Sustainability. Each of the three Pillars is circumscribed by five governance praxis Themes.
The themes include – Voice and Accountability, Government Effectiveness, Rule of Law, Regulatory Quality and Control of Corruption.
At the bottom of the pyramid, 43 component indicators are mapped to 14 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are relevant to the States and UTs.
This forms the foundation of the conceptual framework of PAI 2021. The choice of the 43 indicators that go into the calculation of the CI were dictated by the objective of uncovering the complexity and multidimensional character of development governance
The Equity Principle
The Equity Pillar of the PAI 2021 Index analyses the inclusiveness impact at the Sub-national level in the country; inclusiveness in terms of the welfare of a society that depends primarily on establishing that all people feel that they have a say in the governance and are not excluded from the mainstream policy framework.
This requires all individuals and communities, but particularly the most vulnerable, to have an opportunity to improve or maintain their wellbeing. This chapter of PAI 2021 reflects the performance of States and UTs during the pandemic and questions the governance infrastructure in the country, analysing the effectiveness of schemes and the general livelihood of the people in terms of Equity.
Growth and its Discontents
Growth in its multidimensional form encompasses the essence of access to and the availability and optimal utilisation of resources. By resources, PAI 2021 refer to human resources, infrastructure and the budgetary allocations. Capacity building of an economy cannot take place if all the key players of growth do not drive development. The multiplier effects of better health care, improved educational outcomes, increased capital accumulation and lower unemployment levels contribute magnificently in the growth and development of the States.
The Pursuit Of Sustainability
The Sustainability Pillar analyses the access to and usage of resources that has an impact on environment, economy and humankind. The Pillar subsumes two themes and uses seven indicators to measure the effectiveness of government efforts with regards to Sustainability.
The Curious Case Of The Delta
The Delta Analysis presents the results on the State performance on year-on-year improvement. The rankings are measured as the Delta value over the last five to 10 years of data available for 12 Key Development Indicators (KDI). In PAI 2021, 12 indicators across the three Pillars of Equity (five indicators), Growth (five indicators) and Sustainability (two indicators). These KDIs are the outcome indicators crucial to assess Human Development. The Performance in the Delta Analysis is then compared to the Overall PAI 2021 Index.
Key Findings:-
In the Scheme of Things
The Scheme Analysis adds an additional dimension to ranking of the States on their governance. It attempts to complement the Governance Model by trying to understand the developmental activities undertaken by State Governments in the form of schemes. It also tries to understand whether better performance of States in schemes reflect in better governance.
The Centrally Sponsored schemes that were analysed are National Health Mission (NHM), Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services scheme (ICDS), Mahatma Gandh National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SmSA) and MidDay Meal Scheme (MDMS).
National Health Mission (NHM)
INTEGRATED CHILD DEVELOPMENT SERVICES (ICDS)
MID- DAY MEAL SCHEME (MDMS)
SAMAGRA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (SMSA)
MAHATMA GANDHI NATIONAL RURAL EMPLOYMENT GUARANTEE SCHEME (MGNREGS)