History Art And Cultural (March, April, May) UPSC 2020 Set – 2

Table of Contents

Topic to discuss

Which of the statement is correct regarding the ICCR?
1) It is an autonomous body under the ministry of culture

2) ICCR was founded in 1950 by Jawahar Lal Nehru, independent India’s first Prime Minister

Which of the above statements is/are correct?
1 only
2 only
Both 1 and 2
Neither 1 nor 2

INDIAN COUNCIL FOR CULTURAL RELATIONS (ICCR)

ICCR

ICCR is an autonomous organisation of the Government of India, involved in India’s external cultural relations through cultural exchange with other countries and their peoples.
ICCR was founded in 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, independent India’s first Education Minister.
ICCR has been assigned responsibility of facilitating celebration of International Day of Yoga by Indian Missions/Posts abroad since 2015.
The ICCR runs 36 cultural centres across the globe and its emphasis is on making India hub of higher education.

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad

Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, originally named Muhiyuddin Ahmad, was born on 11th November 1888 in Mecca, Saudi-Arabia.
Azad’s ideal was a fusion of the Eastern and Western concepts of man, to create a fully integrated personality.
He was a proponent of Hindu Muslim unity, opposed to Partition.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad supported the Non-Cooperation Movement started by Gandhiji and entered Indian National Congress in 1920.
In 1912, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad started a weekly journal in Urdu called Al-Hilal which played an important role in forging Hindu-Muslim unity after the bad blood created between the two communities in the aftermath of Morley-Minto reforms.
In 1923, he was elected as the president of Indian National Congress. He again became the president of Congress in 1940 and remained in the post till 1946.
His Works: Basic Concept of Quran, Ghubar-eKhatir, Dars-e-Wafa, India Wins Freedom, etc.

CHAPCHAR KUT

Recently, in Mizoram, the biggest and most joyful festival of Mizos, Chapchar Kut has been celebrated across the state.
The Chapchar Kut is also regarded as the most popular spring festival to the people of the state.
It is celebrated during March after completion of their most arduous task of jhum operation.
The gaiety and fervour of Chapchar Kut shines through with plenty of dancing and music to keep everyone in good spirits.
Chapchar Kut is estimated to have started in 1450–1700 A.D. in a village called Suaipui.

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Indira Gandhi

Rajkumari Amrit Kaur and Indira Gandhi were mentioned in TIME magazine’s list of the 100 most powerful women who defined the last century.

Amrit Kaur

Amrit Kaur was born in 1889, to the royal family of Kapurthala.
She was a champion to the cause of women’s rights and worked towards eradication of the purdah system, child marriage, child illiteracy, and the devadasi system.
In 1927, she helped in founding All India Woman’s Conference along with Margaret Cousins.
She also founded the Delhi Women’s League (the Delhi branch of AIWC) along with Rameshwari Nehru.

Amrit Kaur: Participation in India’s Freedom Struggle

She took an active part in the salt campaign and was arrested for her participation in the Dandi March.
She became a secretary to Mahatma Gandhi in 1930, serving him for 16 years, and moved to Gandhiji’s ashram in 1934.
She condemned the Communal Award and moved a resolution against it at the All India Women’s Conference held in 1932.
She was appointed a member of the Advisory Board of Education by the British government but resigned in 1942 in support of the Quit India Movement.

Contribution to Constitution Making and Post Independence

Contribution to Constitution Making – She was elected to the Constituent Assembly from Central Provinces and Berar and was one of the 15 women Constituent Assembly Members.
She was the only woman in the Independent India’s first Cabinet, thus becoming the first woman to hold a cabinet rank in free India.
She was appointed as the Health Minister and remained in that position for 10 years.
She introduced the AIIMS Bill, 1956 (which set up AIIMS, Delhi) in both the houses and was instrumental in the passing of the Bill as an Act.
She also laid the foundation of the Lady Irwin College and initiated the Tuberculosis Association of India and the Central Leprosy Teaching and Research Institute in Madras

Indira Gandhi

Indira Gandhi was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress.
She was the first and, to date, only female Prime Minister of India.
Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India.
She served as prime minister from January 1966 to March 1977 and again from January 1980 until her assassination in October 1984, making her the second longest-serving Indian prime ministerafter her father
She was elected President of the Indian National Congress in 1959. Upon her father’s death in 1964, she was appointed as a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house)
She became a member of Lal Bahadur Shastri’s cabinet as Minister of Information and Broadcasting.
In the Congress Party’s parliamentary leadership election held in early 1966 (upon the death of Shastri),
She defeated her rival Morarji Desai to become leader, and thus succeeded Shastri as Prime Minister of India
In 1999, Indira Gandhi was named “Woman of the Millennium” in an online poll organised by the BBC

Attukal Pongala

In Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, the annual “Attukal Pongala”, one of the largest all-women religious congregations was celebrated
Pongala, which means ‘to boil over’, is the ritual in which women prepare sweet payasam (a pudding made from rice, jaggery, coconut and plantains cooked together) and offer it to the Goddess

Attukal Pongala

Pongala is a ten-day- long festival of Attukal Bhagavathy Temple.
The festival commences with the musical rendering of the story of the Goddess (Kannaki Charitam) during the “Kappu Kettu ceremony”.
The story invokes the presence of Kodungallur Bhagavathy and the slaying of the Pandyan King.
This festival commemorates the victory of Good over Evil, by the slaying of Pandyan King.

Attukal Bhagavathy temple

The temple is dedicated to Goddess Bhagavathy.
It is also known as “the Sabarimala of Women”, this temple attracts the biggest set of women devotees for the annual Attukal Pongala festival.
Attukal Devi temple and its main festival Attukal Pongala reached Guinness Book of World Records of largest annual gathering of women, when 1.5 million (15 Lakhs) women offered pongala on February 23, 1997 and on March 10, 2009, when over 2.5 million people took part in it.