Madhya Pradesh

• 10 Apr 2024

Shakti - Festival of Music and Dance

Why in News?

To rejuvenate the Temple Traditions in the country Sangeet Natak Akademi, under the series of Kala Pravah, is organising the festival under the title ‘Shakti a festival of music and dance’ during the holy Navaratri from 9th April 2024.

Key Points

• The inauguration of the Shakti festival will begin from the Kamakhya Temple, Guwahati and this will be continued at Mahalakshmi Temple, Kolhapur, Maharashtra, Jwalamukhi Temple, Kangada, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura Sundari, Udaipur, Tripura, Ambaji Temple, Banaskantha, Gujarat, Jai Durga Shaktipeeth, Deoghar, Jharkhand and it will be concluded on 17th April, 2024 at Shaktipeeth Maa Harsidhi Temple, Jaisinghpur, Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh.

Sangeet Natak Akademi

• It is India's national academy for music, dance and drama.
• It was created by a resolution of the (then) Ministry of Education, Government of India, in 1952 with Dr P.V. Rajamannar as its first Chairman.
• It is presently an Autonomous Body of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and is fully funded by the Government for implementation of its schemes and programmes.
• It has been working towards the preservation, research, promotion and rejuvenation of performing art forms of the country expressed in the form of music, dance, drama, folk and tribal art forms and other allied art forms of the country.

First Edition of the Ujjain Trade Fair

Why in News?

Recently, the first edition of the Ujjain trade fair concluded with more than 23,700 vehicles sold in over a month making a business of over Rs 1,200 crore.

Key Points

• According to the Ujjain Regional Transport Office (RTO), tax rebate and revenues on vehicles sold in the 40-day long Ujjain trade fair stood at more than Rs 125 crore.
  • It is higher by over 20% from the tax exemptions offered in the Gwalior mela concluded in February 2024.
• The state government had offered a 50% discount in the lifetime motor vehicle tax rate on the sale of non-transport vehicles and light transport vehicles in the Ujjain Vikram Trade Fair.
  • Non-transport light motor vehicles are for personal use like a car, while light transport motor vehicles are used for carrying passengers and goods.

Gudi Padwa

Why in News?

Recently, people celebrated the auspicious occasion of Gudi Padwa symbolising the commencement of the Hindu New Year with joy and religious fervour.

Key Points

• Devotees also embarked on the nine-day Chaitra Shukla Pratipada:
  • It marks the beginning of the new year of the Vikram Samvat also known as the Vedic [Hindu] calendar.
  • Vikram Samvat is based on the day when the emperor Vikramaditya defeated Sakas, invaded Ujjain and called for a new era.
  • Under his supervision, astronomers formed a new calendar based on the luni-solar system that is still followed in the northern regions of India.
  • It is the first day during the waxing phase (in which the visible side of the moon is getting bigger every night) of the moon in the Chaitra (first month of Hindu calendar).

Gudi Padwa and Ugadi

• The people of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka celebrate the New Year as Ugadi while Maharashtra and Goa mark the day's celebrations with Gudi Padwa.
• The common practice in the celebrations of both the festivals is the festive food that is prepared with a mix of sweet and bitter.
• A famous concoction served is jaggery (sweet) and neem (bitter), called bevu-bella in the South, signifying that life brings both happiness and sorrows.
• Gudi is a doll prepared in Maharashtrian homes.
  • A bamboo stick is adorned with green or red brocade to make the gudi. This gudi is placed prominently in the house or outside a window/ door for all to see.
• For Ugadi, doors in homes are adorned with mango leaf decorations called toranalu or Torana in Kannada.