Important Facts for Prelims (26th July 2018)

Nilgiri Mountain Railway

  • It is one of the five hill railways in India. Apart from NMR, the other four include Darjeeling Himalayan Railways (West Bengal); Kalka-Shimla Hill Railway (Himachal Pradesh); Kangra Valley Railway (Himachal Pradesh); and the Matheran Light Railway (Maharashtra).
  • The Mountain Railway of India is included in the UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites.
  • To increase tourist footfall, the southern railway is putting in efforts to refurbish a 25-year old coach (NMR-87), with world-class facilities without its heritage value being compromised.

UNESCO's World Heritage Sites

  • The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) seeks to encourage the identification, protection and preservation of cultural and natural heritage around the world considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.
  • This is embodied in an international treaty called the Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
  • The World Heritage Fund provides about US$4 million annually to support activities to preserve monuments that require international assistance.
  • The World Heritage Committee allocates funds according to the urgency of requests, priority being given to the most threatened sites.

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC)

  • Recently, KVIC has applied for registration of “Khadi” as a Word Mark and “Khadi India” as a Trade Mark in the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Act at the National Level.
  • It has also filed an online application for registering “Khadi” as a trademark under International bureau in European Union and other countries.
  • KVIC is a statutory body established by Khadi and Village Industries Commission Act, 1956.
    It is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
  • Its objectives are to provide employment, produce saleable articles and create strong and self-reliant rural community.

Trademark (popularly known as brand name) in layman’s language is a visual symbol which may be a word signature, name, device, label, numerals or combination of colours used by one undertaking on goods or services or other articles of commerce to distinguish it from other similar goods or services originating from a different undertaking.

Wordmark is a type of trademark which can be words letters or numerals. A wordmark gives the proprietor a right only in the word, letter or numerical. No right is sought with respect to the representation of the mark.

Cabotage Law

  • The Government has relaxed Cabotage rule for movement of cotton from Gujarat to Tamil Nadu.
  • Cabotage is a term of maritime law. It refers to transit of a vessel along the coast of a nation for the purpose of trade from one port to another within the territorial limits of that nation.
  • The Cabotage policy in India is governed under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958.