08 May 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

May 8th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. PM pays tributes to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore
2. Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage

1. PM pays tributes to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore

What’s in News?

The Prime Minister paid tributes to Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore on his Jayanti.

• Rabindranath Tagore’s birth anniversary is celebrated by Bengalis all over the word as Rabindra Jayanti. 
• It is marked on the 25th day of the Bengali month of Boisakh (falls in early May in the Gregorian calendar). 
• It is celebrated in Bangladesh also.

Rabindranath Tagore:

• Rabindranath Tagore is also known by his pen name Bhanu Singha Thakur.
• He is also known by his sobriquets Gurudev, Kabiguru, and Biswakabi.
• He was a polymath, poet, musician, artist and ayurveda-researcher. 
• Tagore is the composer of India’s national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’.
• He also composed Bangladesh’s national anthem ‘Amar Shonar Bangla’.

Background:

• Rabindranath Tagore was born on 7 May 1861 to an upper class Bengali family in his ancestral home in Calcutta.
• Tagore wrote his first poetry when he was 8 years of age.
• He published his first poems aged 16 under the pen-name ‘Bhanusimha’.
• His notable works include Gitanjali, Ghare-Baire, Gora, Manasi, Balaka, Sonar Tori.
• He is also remembered for his song ‘Ekla Chalo Re’.
• He became the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize for Literature when he won the award in 1913 for his translation of his own work in Bengali, Gitanjali.
• He has composed over 2000 songs and his songs and music are called ‘Rabindrasangeet’ with its own distinct lyrical and fluid style.
• Tagore had composed Amar Shonar Bangla in 1905 in the wake of the Bengal partition to foster a spirit of unity and patriotism among Bengalis.
  • Tagore fiercely opposed the partition.

2. Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage

What’s in News?

Ushering in a new era in undertaking Kailash-Manasarovar Yatra and border area connectivity, Raksha Mantri inaugurated the road link from Dharchula (Uttarakhand) to Lipulekh (China Border).

• The Kailash-Mansarovar road alignment is along the Kali river, which is the boundary between India and Nepal.
• The endpoint of the road is at Lipulekh Pass, a tri-junction of India, China and Nepal.

• Pilgrimage to Kailash-Manasarovar is sacred and revered by Hindus, Buddhists and Jains.

Darchula:

• Dharchula lies north of Pithoragarh, along the route of the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage tour. 
• Dharchula is a major trading centre for the trans-Himalayan trade routes since medieval times. 
• Dharchula is surrounded by Himalayan Peaks. 

Lipulekh:

• Lipulekh is a Himalayan pass on the border between India’s Uttarakhand state and the Tibet region of China, near their trijunction with Nepal. 
• Nepal has ongoing claims to the southern side of the pass, called Kalapani territory, which is controlled by India.

What is the Kalapani dispute?

• Kalapani is a 372-sq km area at the China-Nepal-India tri-junction. 
• India claims Kalapani as a part of Uttarakhand while Nepal depicts the area in its map. 
• The border dispute flared up again recently after India released its new political map following the reorganisation of J&K showing the area as its own. 
• According to the Sugauli treaty signed between Nepal and British India in 1816, the Mahakali river that runs through the Kalapani area is the boundary between the two countries. 
• However, British surveyors subsequently showed the origin of the river, which has many tributaries, at different places. 
• While Nepal claims that the river, west of the disputed territory is the main river and so Kalapani falls in its territory, India claims a different origin and includes the area in its territory.
• Strategically, Lipulekh pass in Kalapani serves as an important vantage point for India to keep an eye on Chinese movements.
• Since 1962, Kalapani has been manned by the Indi-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

May 8th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

Read more PIB articles here.