19 Feb 2022: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Swaminatha Iyer
2. Role of Farmers Producer Organisations
3. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

1. Swaminatha Iyer

Syllabus: GS I, Personalities

Prelims: Sangam Literature

Mains: Important contributions of Swaminatha Iyer in the conservation of old literary works that reflected the cultural richness of our past.

Context: The Prime Minister paid homage to Swaminatha Iyer on his birth anniversary (on the 19th of February) commemorating his significant contributions to promote the cultural richness of the Sangam period

About Swaminatha Iyer (also known as ‘Tamil Thatha’):

• Swaminatha played a revolutionary role in the revival of forgotten works of Tamil literature. 
• The Tamil poet and nationalist, Subramania Bharati equated Swaminatha with the sage Agastya who was among the first exponents of Tamil. 
• He was born in a small village called Suryamoolai near Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu.
• He was a Tamil scholar and had joined the Government Arts College at Kumbakonam.
• The palm leaf manuscripts, a Buddhist work, were transcribed by him into paper and edited with special attention. 
• The Silappathikaram, Purananooru and Manimekalai were some of the palm leaf manuscripts transcribed by Swaminatha and received enormous appreciation. 
• He was awarded with the title ‘Mahamahopadhyaya’ which decodes as ‘Great Teacher’, by the Government of Madras in 1906. 
• The title of ‘Dakshina Kalanidhi’ was awarded to him by Sri Sankara Swamigal. 
• In order to recognise his service towards reviving Tamil culture and language, the Madras University accorded Swaminatha with the title of ‘Doctor’.
• He published his autobiography named as ‘En Saritham’ which appeared in the Tamil weekly called ‘Ananda Vikatan’. It was later published as a book.
• His writings included poems, glimpses of puranas and bhakti (devotion), Sangam texts, epics, etc. 
• It was his efforts that highlighted many literary treasures of the Sangam period and came to the public notice or else they would have been restricted only to the palm leaf manuscripts. 
• The Jain classic called Civaka Cintamani was revived and published owing to the tireless efforts of Swaminatha. 
• He also worked on and refurbished the Pattupattu which is an anthology of ten long poems in the Sangam literature. 

Read more about Sangam Literature in the provided link

2. Role of Farmers Producer Organisations

Syllabus: GS III, Economy, Major crops- marketing of agricultural produce 

Prelims: About FPOs, Millets

Mains: Significance of FPOs in supporting and upscaling the production of millets. 

Context: A seminar on India: Millets production and upscaling value chain was conducted by the India Pavilion at EXPO2020 wherein a significant importance has been given to boost the production of millets considering the Farmer Producer Organizations to play a key role. This forms a part of the ongoing ‘Food, Agriculture and Livelihood’ fortnight. 

An Overview of the discussion:

• With the onset of the declaration of International Year of Millets in 2023 by the UN General Assembly, India is active in leading the world by sharing best practises, technologies, the goodness of millets along with the awareness pertaining to its nutritive value and experiences with other countries. 
• The experts from industries and government acknowledge the fact that the FPOs can play a transformative role in enhancing the production of millets with the increase in its export potential. 
• The FPOs can enable the setting up of a framework which is inclusive in nature and can take the producing communities along. 
• This will offer momentum to the entire campaign of promoting millets, creating rooms for formalising the unorganised food processing system.
• The FPOs along with the cooperatives can be provided with technical support, credit linkages and adequate storage capacity to avoid food wastage. 
• This will extend the value chain of millets to strengthen the creation of multiple startups inviting innovations and sustainability in agriculture. 

Read more about FPOs in the linked article

3. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Syllabus: GS I, Personalities

Mains: Contributions of Shivaji Maharaj as a leader and his military policies.

Context: The Prime Minister commemorated the captivating leadership of Shivaji Maharaj on his birth anniversary and paid homage to this gallant personality.

Exploring Shivaji Maharaj:

• He is remembered for his excellent military strategy and leadership roles in the advocacy of social welfare with a committed vision. 
• He is the founder of the Maratha empire. 
• Every 19th day of February is celebrated as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Jayanti. 
• He was a member of the Bhonsle clan of Marathas.
• Shivaji was crowned as the Chhatrapati (Monarch) in 1674 at Raigad. 
• He promoted the usage of Sanskrit and Marathi language in the court and in administration. 
• The necessity of naval force to embolden the military set up was addressed for the first time by Shivaji Maharaj. Therefore, he is known to be the Father of the Indian Navy. 
• His efforts to defend Maharashtra can be exemplified through Jaigad, Vijaydurg and Sindhudurg forts determining his ideas and military prowess. 

Explore more about Shivaji Maharaj in the linked article

Read previous PIB here.

February 19th, 2022, PIB:- Download PDF Here