ASSAM

Whistling village pins hope on Unesco tag

Each person in the village of Kongthong, 65 km from Shillong in Meghalaya, has two names — one in words, the other as a whistled tune. For centuries, the village has nurtured the whistling code, Jingrwai Iawbei. Now, down to the last 700, the community is pinning its hopes on a long-promised Unesco heritage tag and a school to help preserve this oral tradition.

Meghalaya has long been trying to get the whistling nomenclature system on the Unesco’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

NORTH-EASTERN STATES

Weather conditions in northeast set to turn favourable for monsoon onset

Weather conditions are set to turn favourable in the northeast for the monsoon to set in. The three-month pre-monsoon season did not experience much rainfall this year.

In the northeast, the normal date of the arrival of the rainy season is June 5. “After the rains hit the Kerala coast, within a couple of days, the rains may arrive in the northeast. We are keeping a close watch on the movement of the clouds,” said a senior official of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

In the run-up to the monsoon, the region usually experiences thunderstorms, but this year there was less of this activity. Except Meghalaya, which received normal rainfall since March 1, six other northeast states recorded deficit rainfall. With a maximum shortfall of 67% and 60%, rainfall has been largely deficit in Mizoram and Tripura respectively. Meghalaya, despite receiving 8% less rainfall than normal, was categorized in the normal range as the deficit was not that low. In Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, there was 41% and 27% deficit rainfall, whereas in Manipur, the shortfall was 37%. Nagaland had 44% deficit rainfall.

INTERNATIONAL

World Hunger Day is on 28th May

Every May 28th, World Hunger Day is celebrated globally. The goal of this day is to raise awareness of more than 820 million chronically hungry people worldwide.

Since 2011, people have observed that it is not only necessary to spread awareness of chronic hunger, but also to tackle hunger and poverty through sustainable causes.

The initiative recognizes the urgent need to save nearly a quarter of the 1 billion people from malnutrition and chronic hunger.

International Womens Health Action Day is on 28th May

Since 1987, the International Women’s Health Action Day has been celebrated on May 28 every year to raise awareness of issues related to women’s health and well-being.

The Latin American and Caribbean Women’s Health Network (LACWHN) and Women’s Global Reproductive Rights Network (WGNRR) launched the day. Year after year, women, girls, advocates and allies continue to act and defend the essence of sexual and reproductive rights: this is an inalienable and inalienable part of our human rights.

NATIONAL

Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code

New rules for social media platforms and digital news media, namely the Intermediary Guidelines and the Digital Media Ethics Code, have come into force recently.

According to the guidelines, all social media platforms must establish a grievance redressal and compliance mechanism, which includes appointing a resident grievance officer, chief compliance officer, and a nodal contact person.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had also requested that these platforms submit monthly reports on user complaints and actions taken.

Renaming of Indian Broadcasting Foundation

The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) will change its name to the Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF). The IBF is the apex body of broadcasters. It is now expanding its scope to include digital streaming platforms.

The move would combine broadcasters and OTT (over-the-top) platforms under one roof. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, OTT saw a significant increase in viewership. IBDF would also establish a self-regulatory body, the Digital Media Content Regulatory Council, for digital OTT platforms.

Implementation of Van Dhan Yojana TRIFED and NITI Aayog

Through TRIFED (Indian Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation), the Ministry of Tribal Affairs will cooperate with NITI Aayog to implement the Van Dhan Vikas Kendra (VDVK) plan of Van Dhan Yojna in the 39 ideal tribal areas identified by NITI Aayog. Including Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Orissa, Telangana and Tripura.

Van Dhan Tribe Startups or VDVK is a value-added branding and marketing plan for small forest products that promote sustainable livelihoods for forest-based tribes by establishing Van Dhan Kendras.

Special attention will be paid to these aspiring areas, where the tribal population exceeds 50%. Through this partnership, NITI Aayog will support the concept of integration of TRIFED’s VDVK mission (cooperation between state and central government, development partners) with Article 275 (1), DMF (Regional Minerals Foundation), and intended tribal components (STC)).

Van Dhan Yojna or Van Dhan Scheme was launched on 14th April 2018 and is implemented through TRIFED. Van Dhan startups help for the socio-economic development of the tribal population of the country to set up the Van Dhan Kendra.

It is an aspect of the Mechanism for MFP (Marketing of Minor Forest Produce) through MSP (Minimum Support Price) & Development of Value Chain for MFP. The concept is to set up tribal community-owned Van Dhan Vikas Kendra Clusters (VDVKCs) in predominantly forested tribal districts.

Annual Report of Reserve Bank of India

The Reserve Bank released the annual report. It emphasized that “the quality of the bank’s assets and its readiness need to be closely monitored to ensure that reserves increase in the next few quarters.

Highlights:

The Reserve Bank of India, early in its semi-annual financial stability report, sometimes emphasized that by September 2021, under benchmark pressure, banks’ non-performing loan ratio may rise to 13.5%.

In its report, the Reserve Bank of India warned: “Banks as lenders will have to provide real non-performing loans. After the Supreme Court (SC) lifted the moratorium on the classification of non-performing assets in March 2021.

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