13 May 2024: PIB Summary for UPSC

13 May 2024 PIB
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. UNESCO's Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register
2. Exercise Shakti
3. Chabahar Port Latest Developments

1. UNESCO’s Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register

Syllabus: GS-1, Art and Culture

Prelims: UNESCO’s Memory of the World, Ramcharitmanas, Panchatantra, Sahṛdayāloka-Locana

Context:

Ramcharitmanas, Panchatantra, and Sahṛdayāloka-Locana enter ‘UNESCO’s Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register’.

Details:

• The Ramcharitmanas, Panchatantra and Sahṛdayāloka-Locana have been included in ‘UNESCO’s Memory of the World Asia-Pacific Regional Register’.  
• The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), played a vital role in securing this inclusion.
• During the 10th meeting of the Memory of the World Committee for Asia and the Pacific (MOWCAP) in Ulaanbaatar where 38 representatives from member states had convened alongside 40 observers and nominees, IGNCA advocated for these three nominations.

Significance:

• This inclusion is a proud moment for India, confirming the country’s rich literary heritage and cultural legacy. 
• It signifies a step forward in global cultural preservation efforts, highlighting the importance of recognising and safeguarding the diverse narratives and artistic expressions that shape our shared humanity.

Ramcharitmanas:

• Ramcharitmanas is an epic poem written by Sant Tulsidas in the 16th century.
• It is composed in the Awadhi language and is primarily based on the Valmiki Ramayana.
• It belongs to the Bhakti era and greatly influenced cultural traditions chiefly in the country’s northern parts.
• It is considered “the greatest book of all devotional literature” and enabled the common man to sing, meditate and perform the story of Lord Rama, the most significant is the Ramlila tradition.

Panchatantra:

• The Panchatantra is an ancient Indian collection of fables attributed to Vishnu Sharma.
• The surviving work is dated to about 200 BCE, but the fables are likely much more ancient.
• The Panchatantra is written in Sanskrit and has five parts.
• The stories are chiefly animal fables intended to teach valuable life lessons.

Sahṛdayāloka-Locana:

• It is a significant literary work in aesthetics and literary criticism authored by Kashmiri poet Acharya Anandvardhan.
• It provides insights into the principles of Sanskrit poetics and analyses various aspects of literary composition. 
• It has contributed to the understanding and appreciation of Sanskrit literature and aesthetics.

UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MoW) Programme:

• UNESCO’s Memory of the World (MoW) Programme is an international initiative launched to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity against collective amnesia, neglect, decay over time and climatic conditions, as well as deliberate destruction.
• It calls for the preservation of valuable archival holdings, library collections, and private individual compendia all over the world for posterity, the reconstitution of dispersed or displaced documentary heritage, and increased accessibility to, and dissemination of, these items.
• It was initiated in 1992.

 

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