Madhya Pradesh State PCS

• 09 Mar 2022

Times Passion Tribal Trail and Taj Tribal Food Festival

Why in News

• On March 8, 2022, Governor Mangubhai Patel inaugurated the Times Passion Tribal Trail and Taj Tribal Food Festival organized by Madhya Pradesh Tourism, Times of India and Taj Group.

Key Points

• On this occasion, Tribal Affairs and Scheduled Castes Welfare Minister Meena Singh said that this event is a worthwhile initiative in the direction of making efforts for proper marketing of crafts, arts and food items of the tribal society.
• Kanika Hasrat, General Manager, Taj Group, said that the organization of this food festival is the result of intensive study, research and training arrangements of the living and food habits of the tribal society.
• On this occasion, Pandwani singer Dr. Teejan Bai of Chhattisgarh, who was awarded by folk artist Padma Vibhushan, presented the incident of Dushasan slaughter of Mahabharata through her special velocity and communication.
• In the function, Anuppur District Magistrate Sonia Meena presented the first copy of the book 'Anuppur Food Culture and Tourism' to Governor Mangubhai Patel.

Tripartite MoU Between Skill Development, Siemens India and GIZ India

Why in News

• On March 8, 2022, a tripartite MoU was signed between Madhya Pradesh Skill Development, Siemens India and GIZ India for the Indo-German Initiative for Technical Education Program (IGNITE) in the Skill Strengthening Scheme (STRIVE) for Industrial Value Addition.

Key Points

• The MoU was signed by Jitendra Singh Raje, Director, Skill Development, Madhya Pradesh, Dharamvir Singh of Siemens India and Usha Ganesh of GIZ India.
• Director Jitendra Singh informed that the objective of Indo-German Initiative for Technical Education Program (IGNITE) is to create a framework for high quality training in India based on the German dual vocational education and training model.
• He informed that four industry clusters of Madhya Pradesh and 34 government ITIs concerned have been selected for the IGNITE program. In this, 7 government ITIs have been selected in Gwalior-Shivpuri Industry Cluster and 9-9 government ITIs in Jabalpur-Katni Cluster, Sagar-Damoh Cluster and Rewa-Satna Industry Cluster.
• Under this MoU, Siemens India and GIZ. (GIZ) by the experts of ITI Principal, Institution Head, Training and Placement Officer, Training Officers of the trades and capacity building of ITI's 5 trades Electrician, Fitter, Turner, Machinist and Electronics Mechanic in the Industry Cluster 'In Plant Training' ' and 'Green Skills'.

Announcements on the Occasion of International Women's Day

Why in News

• On March 8, 2022, on the occasion of International Women's Day, various programs were started by the Women and Child Development Department of Madhya Pradesh for the economic, physical and mental upliftment of the women of the state.

Key Points

• Keeping in view the procedural difficulties faced by women from banks, the Department of Women and Child Development has launched a special scheme to provide loans in collaboration with Punjab National Bank and Central Bank of India to overcome the paucity of funds. Under this, a loan of Rs 180 crore was made available to about 7136 women groups of the state.
• Aparajita martial arts training program was also started by the department for teenage girls. In this, 150 teenage girls of each district will be given 10 days training in Boxing, Judo, Karate, Taekwondo and Wrestling in collaboration with the Sports and Youth Welfare Department.
• A health test camp has also been started for the testing and treatment of the health and nutritional level of the women field staff of the Women and Child Development Department.
• Additional Chief Secretary Ashok Shah distributed symbolic keys of 8 autos and one e-rickshaw in collaboration with the bank to the beneficiaries of self-help groups on International Women's Day.
• Director Women and Child Development Dr. Ram Rao Bhosale informed that so far more than 41 lakh children in the state have got the benefit of Ladli Laxmi Yojana and this process is going on continuously. He said that the Panchayat which will celebrate the birth of daughters will be declared as 'Ladli Friendly'.

GPS tagging of Vultures in Panna Tiger Reserve

Why in News

• On March 8, 2022, Uttam Kumar Sharma, Area Director of Panna Tiger Reserve informed that for the first time in the country a unique initiative has been taken in collecting authentic information about the behavior and habitat of vultures in Panna Tiger Reserve in the state. Here GPS tagging is being done by catching the vultures.

Key Points

• The work of GPS tagging on vultures in Panna Tiger Reserve was carried out by a team of researchers from Panna Tiger Reserve and Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun during winters in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
• The 25 vultures available in the Panna Tiger Reserve have been tagged with solar powered GPS devices. It includes 3D acceleration sensors. The GPS tag data is being tracked via satellite.
• This is a major achievement of the Vulture Telemetry Project. Vulture tagging is a well-planned initiative to prevent and conserve India's Old World vultures from extinction.
• With this unique initiative, 14 vulture species have been tagged and studied in 24 countries so far. None of this is from India. There are 9 species of vultures in India. The state has got good results in the conservation of vulture species. The number of vultures has increased to 9446 in the year 2021.
• Out of 9 species of vultures available in India, 3 species are endangered. Out of these 7 species are available in Panna Tiger Reserve. These include migratory species such as the Himalayan griffon/vulture, the Eurasian griffon and the sinerus, and migratory species such as the Indian long-billed vulture, the white-backed king vulture, and the Egyptian vulture.
• The number of vultures has decreased drastically in the last few decades. Efforts to conserve vultures started around 10-12 years ago across the country and the telemetry based project is a meaningful step in this direction.
• Through GPS tagging, important information about the movement of vultures, information about the route of migration and habitat etc. is available. This will ensure scientific management of vultures.
• In this system, blood samples have been taken in the health test of vultures along with GPS tagging. This will help to know the health status of the vultures. This information of vultures will prove to be important in making vulture management policies in future.

4 Important Decisions for Women Empowerment

Why in News

• On March 8, 2022, on the occasion of International Women's Day, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made 4 important announcements for women empowerment in the women empowerment-credit linkage program organized in Dewas.

Key Points

• The Chief Minister said that Women Finance Development Corporation would be strengthened in the state, Mukhyamantri Nari Samman Kosh would be established at a cost of Rs 100 crore, Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyam Shakti Yojana would be started and industrial parks would be set up in Indore and Bhopal to encourage women's enterprise.
• Mukhyamantri Mahila Udyam Shakti Yojana will help women to start their own enterprise and they will be able to become self-reliant.
• In order to encourage women's enterprise, industrial parks for women only will be built in Indore and Bhopal.
• Chief Minister Chouhan and BJP's National President JP Nadda handed over the keys to the Nutrition Food Plant to women self-help groups and distributed a loan of Rs 300 crore to them.
• Along with this, toolkits were provided to women to work in the Jal Jeevan Mission. Women's cluster level organizations were rewarded and a booklet of success stories of self-help groups was also released.

Jodhaiya Bai Baiga of Madhya Pradesh Honored with 'Nari Shakti Puraskar'

Why in News

• On the occasion of International Women's Day President Ram Nath Kovind honored Jodhaiya Bai Baiga of Madhya Pradesh with 'Nari Shakti Puraskar' for her extraordinary work towards women empowerment.

Key Points

• The President presented the Nari Shakti Puraskar to 29 women at a special function held at Rashtrapati Bhavan. For the years 2020 and 2021, 14-14 awards were given and one award was given jointly to two women.
• These awards are given to women who have done remarkable work in the field of entrepreneurship, agriculture, innovation, social work, art, handicrafts, wildlife conservation, linguistics, merchant navy, education, literature, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) and rights of persons with disabilities.
• Jodhaiya Bai Baiga of Madhya Pradesh was honored with Nari Shakti Puraskar for promoting tribal Baiga art at the global level. The work of Jodhaiya Bai Baiga, which depicts tribal culture on canvas, has been exhibited internationally in Italy and France.
• It is noteworthy that women who have done exceptional and outstanding work towards the empowerment of weak and marginalized women are honored with Nari Shakti Puraskar every year. The Nari Shakti Puraskar ceremony of 2020 could not be held due to the Corona epidemic.