24 Jul 2023: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. UNESCO World Heritage List
2. Income Tax Day
3. Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP)
4. Saraswati River
5. National Geoscience Awards

1. UNESCO World Heritage List

Syllabus: GS-1, Art and Culture

Prelims: UNESCO World Heritage List & Sites in India

Context:

Currently, India has 40 Sites on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Details:

• Apart from the 40 on the list, 52 sites (including 6 added in 2022) are in the UNESCO Tentative List.
  • Inclusion of any property in the Tentative List is a prerequisite condition for onward inclusion in the World Heritage List.

Read more about UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India in the linked article.

2. Income Tax Day

Syllabus: GS-2, Governance

Prelims: Income Tax Day

Context:

164^th Income Tax Day celebrations conducted.

About Income Tax Day:

• The day is celebrated every year on 24 July to spread awareness around the importance of taxes and encourage more and more people to pay taxes for the development of the nation.
• The day is also called ‘Aaykar Diwas’.
• The day commemorates the introduction of the provision of income tax in the country.
• The concept of an income tax was introduced for the first time in India in 1860 by Sir James Wilson. The measure was taken to compensate for the loss in the aftermath of the 1857 Revolt.
• Income Tax Day was celebrated for the first time in the country in 2010 to commemorate 150 years of income tax in India.

Read more here: Who controls the income tax department?

3. Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP)

Syllabus: GS-2, Geography; GS-3, Environment

Prelims: Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project, Central Water Commission

Context:

Information about the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project was given by a union minister in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

About the Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project:

• Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project (ERCP) envisages intra-basin transfer of water within the Chambal Basin by utilising surplus monsoon water available in Kalisindh, Parvati, Mej and Chakan sub-basins and diverting it into water deficit sub-basins of Banas, Gambhiri, Banganga and Parbati to provide drinking and industrial water to 13 districts of eastern Rajasthan.
• The project also envisages irrigation in about 2.82 lakh hectare area.
• The project’s estimated cost is around Rs.40,000 crores.
• Benefits of the ERCP:
  • Irrigation facilities for a good portion of the land in the state of Rajasthan.
  • Can improve the groundwater table in many rural parts of the state.
  • Have a positive socio-economic impact on the state.
  • Can assist in the growth of industries in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
  • Enhance investments and revenue.
• Rajasthan is the largest state in India in terms of geography but holds only 1.16% of India’s surface water and 1.72% of groundwater.
• The only river basin in the state which has surplus water is that of the Chambal River but this cannot be tapped since the region around the Kota barrage is a crocodile sanctuary.

4. Saraswati River

Syllabus: GS-2, Geography; GS-1, History

Prelims: Saraswati River

Context:

Revival of Saraswati River.

Details:

• In 2017, the Government of Haryana established a Centre of Excellence for Research on the Sarasvati River (CERSR) in Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra.
• The mission of CERSR is to geo-scientifically characterize the paleochannels and validate the antiquity of culture and civilization nurtured by the sacred Saraswati River system of the Indian subcontinent.
• Earlier in 2015, the Haryana Government instituted a Sarasvati Heritage Development Board.
  • The mission of the Board:
    • To revive the Sarasvati River with the mission ‘Sarasvati flows on’
    • To revive its heritage on the course of the Sarasvati River
    • To raise awareness about the richness and importance of Sarasvati heritage
    • To develop tourism, cultural corridor, construct/development of water bodies
    • To support the research documents, compile research papers, publications of journals, monographs and reports, etc. pertaining to Sarasvati River and its heritages on the palaeo-channel
  • Activities conducted by the Board:
    • Celebrating Sarasvati Mahotsav every year on the eve of Basant Panchami
    • Organizing international conferences and seminars every year in collaboration with reputed universities and colleges
    • A chapter on the Sarasvati Indus civilization has been incorporated into the curriculum of class X

Know more about the Saraswati River in the linked article.

5. National Geoscience Awards

Syllabus: GS-2, Governance; General Awareness

Prelims: National Geoscience Awards

Context:

The President of India presented the National Geoscience Awards.

About the National Geoscience Awards:

• The National Geoscience Awards-2022 were presented by the Indian President at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• The National Geoscience Award was instituted by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India with the aim to honour individuals and teams for extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions in various fields of geosciences.
• The awards were given to 22 winners this time.
• The awards were grouped under three categories namely National Geoscience Award for Life Time Achievement, National Young Geoscientist Award and National Geoscience Awards.
• The awards were instituted in 1966.
• They are given in the field of mineral discovery and exploration, basic and applied geosciences, mining, mineral beneficiation and sustainable mineral development.

Read the previous PIB articles here.

July 24th, 2023, PIB:- Download PDF Here