The World’s longest Highway tunnel – Atal Tunnel, India – Japan Celebration of the International Day of Older Persons, Ministry of Tourism organises webinar on “Charkhe pe Charcha” under Dekho Apna Desh Webinar Series
Ministry of Tourism organises webinar on "Charkhe pe Charcha" under Dekho Apna Desh Webinar Series
- To mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Ministry of Tourism organised a webinar on “Charkhe pe Charcha” under Dekho Apna Desh Webinar Series on 02nd October 2020.
- The Webinar titled “Charkhe pe Charcha” focused on spinning wheel and Khadi.
- Khadi, the moral fabric of the nation is a metaphor for swarajya and swavalamban.
- No where in world history would you find the anti-colonial narrative spun around a fabric like in the case of India.
- From the boycott of foreign cloth to the promotion of handspun, handwoven khaddar, the spinning wheel or the charkha is a political and emotional symbol for India and this narrative is the gift of one man, Mahatma Gandhi, whose vision for a self-reliant village and spiritual cleansing were all tied to the yarn on the wheel.
- The webinar seeks to explore the dimensions of khadi in the freedom struggle of India and explores the journey of NIFT, Bengaluru in contemporising khadi and spreading the message of Bapu.
- Gandhiji’s attire of three piece suit when he was a lawyer in South Africa.
- When he returned to India in 1915, he started donning typical gujarati attire.
- Though Rabindranath Tagore hailed him as a Mahatma in 1915, it was Madurai which made Gandhi into a Mahatma, in the full sense of the term.
- For, it was here that he discarded the western clothing, and donned the khadi, which remained his signature look, till his death.
- In 1918, Mahatma Gandhi started his movement for Khadi as relief programme for the poor masses living in India’s villages. Spinning and weaving was elevated to an ideology for self-reliance and self government.
- Every village shall plant and harvest its own raw-materials for yarn, every woman and man shall engage in spinning and every village shall weave whatever is needed for its own use.
- Gandhi saw it as the end of dependency on foreign materials and thus giving a first lesson or real independence.
- Raw materials at that time were entirely exported to England and then re-imported as costly finished cloth, depriving the local population of work and profits on it.
- It was for economic, cultural and social reasons and not merely political that Gandhi established the Khadi Movement.
- On his second visit to Madurai on September 20, 1921, Gandhi stayed in the West Masi Street and when he saw the daily wage labourers going to work without a shirt he was deeply moved by their plight, he removed his attire and adorned the four metre Khadi dhoti on the night of September 21.
- The next day, on, September 22, 1922, when he went to address the people at a place in Kamaraj Street, now called as Gandhi Pottal dressed only in his khadi veshti, people asked him the reason.
- The place where he stayed in 1921 is now a Khadi Kraft store, but a stone tablet in the building records the historic change of attire.
- In 1934-35 he expanded the idea from helping the poor individual to self-reliance of whole villages.
- In 1942-43 he had sessions with workers groups and village organizers to re-organize the whole programme on a bigger country-wide scale.
- Thus Khadi became not mere a piece of cloth but a way of life.
- The birth of khadi as a symbol of India’s freedom struggle took place at Sabarmati Ashram.
- One of the objects of the Ashram was that all inmates should wear hand-woven cloth made from Indian yarn.
- The question was how to make the hand-spun yarn.
- The spinning wheel was not available nor was there any person who could teach spinning.
- Gangaben Majumdar, whom Gandhiji met at the Broach Educational Conference and expressed the difficulty that the Ashram was facing, solved the problem.
- She found the spinning wheel for Gandhiji in Vijapur in Baroda State.
- Thus, the spinning wheel came to the Ashram and the production of khadi began.
- From then onwards Gandhiji wore only hand woven dhoti made of hand-spun yarn.
- Khadi became the ultimate definition of Swadeshi.
- The journey of Namma Khadi was an initiative to restore the pride and position of Brand Karnataka Khadi.
- Dharwad is the only place in Karnataka where coloured cotton is grown.
- A panel of experts from NIFT Bengaluru have designed more than 400 products for the review and these were reviewed in the presence of Chairman, KSK&VIB and many artisans and the most viable products were selected for imparting training to the artisans.
- The co-operation and the partnership of KSK&VIB, NIFT would be able to position Brand Khadi effectively for the contemporary market not only in India but also at global level.
- Hence, we should not only be proud of our heritage and culture but also do our bit towards upliftment and encouragement of artisans by buying and wearing Khadi.
- It is important for us to live up to the value systems shown to us by Gandhiji and spread them far and wide.
- Dekho Apna Desh Webinar Series is an effort to showcase India’s rich diversity under Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.
- The Dekho Apna Desh Webinar Series is presented in technical partnership with National e Governance Department, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
India - Japan Celebration of the International Day of Older Persons
- The webinar on ‘India – Japan Celebration of the International Day of Older Persons’ was organized by the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, jointly with the Embassy of India, Tokyo & and the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI).
- Government of Japan to celebrate the International Day of Older Persons on 1st October 2020.
- Experts from India and Japan discussed ways in which the two countries can collaborate to strengthening health care for older people and reimagine aging and the research, demonstration, and implementation required for the same at a webinar organised to celebrate International Day of Older Persons.
- Ensuring people’s health also ensures National Security.
- The scope of reimagining ageing through education and re-training of the elderly and stressed on the need of strengthening bilateral relations towards achieving universal health care by working together.
- However, dividing the entire work in two aspects, namely ‘Research’ aspect and ‘Demonstration and application’ aspect, should be the way forward for India and Japan to strengthen their bilateral relations for realising Medical Excellence India (ME-India).
- Government of India said that a collaborative model will provide an opportunity to explore new directions in research on population ageing as well as the need to design and develop S&T interventions for providing comprehensive health services to elderly at all levels.
- Further, the expansion of initiatives like the National Program for Healthcare of the Elderly, Ayushman Bharat and implementation of WHO’s long term care protocol (ICOPE) could help in strengthening healthcare for older people.
The World's longest Highway tunnel – Atal Tunnel
- The World’s longest Highway tunnel – Atal Tunnel at its south portal in Manali.
- The 9.02 Km long tunnel connects Manali to Lahaul-Spiti valley throughout the year.
- Earlier the valley was cut off for about 6 months each year owing to heavy snowfall.
- The Tunnel is built with ultra-modern specifications in the Pir Panjal range of Himalayas at an altitude of 3000 Mtrs (10,000 Feet) from the Mean Sea Level (MSL).
- The tunnel reduces the road distance by 46 Kms between Manali and Leh and the time by about 4 to 5 hours.
- It has state of the art electromechanical systems including semi transverse ventilation, SCADA controlled fire fighting, illumination and monitoring systems.
- The Tunnel has ample safety features built into it.
- Further, it is the only fructifies the vision of the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee but also the decades old wish and dream of crores of people from the region.
- Moreover, the Prime Minister Shri Modi travelled in the tunnel from the South Portal to the North Portal and also visited the emergency egress tunnel that was built into the main tunnel itself.
- He also witnessed a pictorial exhibition on “The Making of Atal Tunnel” on the occasion.
- Atal Tunnel is going to be a lifeline for a large part of Himachal Pradesh as well as the new Union Territory of Leh-Ladakh and would reduce the distance between Manali and Keylong by 3-4 hours.
- Now parts of Himachal Pradesh and Leh-Ladakh will always be connected with the rest of the country and would witness speedier economic progress.
- Farmers, horticulturalists and youth will now also have easy access to the capital of Delhi and other markets.
- Such border connectivity projects will also aid the security forces in ensuring regular supplies to them and also in their patrolling.
- The efforts of the engineers, technicians and workers who risked their lives in making this dream come true.
- Atal Tunnel is also going to give new strength to India’s border infrastructure and would be a living proof of world-class border connectivity.
- Despite that the longstanding demand to improve the infrastructure and overall development of the border areas, plans were made only to languish for decades without any progress.
- As we know Atal ji laid the foundation of the approach road for this tunnel in 2002.
- After that the work was so neglected that only 1300 metres i.e less than 1.5 Kms of tunnel could be built till 2013-14 i.e only about 300 metres each year.
- Experts then explained that if it continued at that pace then the tunnel would be completed only in 2040.
- However, the present day of Government then fast tracked the project and the construction went on at a speed of 1400 metres each year.
- Hence, the project could be completed in 6 years where the estimate was 26 years.
- Because infrastructure should be developed at a fast pace when the country needs to progress economically and socially.
- This needs unflinching political will and commitment for the progress of the nation.
- The delay in the completion of such important and major infrastructure projects causes financial losses and deprives people of economic and social benefits,
- In 2005, the estimated cost for the construction of the tunnel was about Rs. 900 crores.
- But due to continuous delays, today it has been completed after spending more than 3 times i.e. 3200 crore rupees.
- Similarly, te strategically very important air strip in Ladakh as Daulat Beg Oldi remained uncompleted for 40–45 years though the Air Force wanted an air strip.
- Work on the Bogibeel Bridge also started during Atal ji’s government but work on it languished later.
- The Bridge provides key connectivity between Arunachal and the North East region.
- The work gained unprecedented momentum after 2014 and was inaugurated about two years ago on the occasion of Atal ji’s birthday.
- Atal ji also laid the foundation stone of Kosi Mahasetu to connect two major regions of Mithilanchal in Bihar.
- After 2014, the Government expedited the work of Kosi Mahasetu and the bridge was inaugurated a few weeks ago.
- The situation now changed and in the last six years the border infrastructure – be it roads, bridges or tunnels- is being developed with full impetus and great speed.
- Many initiatives of the Government to take care of the needs of the defence forces like implementation of One rank One pension scheme, procurement of a modern fighter plane, procurement of ammunition, modern rifles, bulletproof jackets, harsh winter equipment which were laid on hold by the previous Government.
- Major reforms such as relaxation of FDI in Defence manufacture have been made so as to produce modern weapons and ammunition in the country itself.
- Reforms were initiated in the form of creation of the post of Chief of Defence Staff and establishing a better coordination in both procurement and production as per the requirements of the Defence forces.
- To match the rising global stature of India, the country has to improve its infrastructure, its economic and strategic potential at the same speed.
- However, the Atal Tunnel is a shining example of the country;s resolve to become AatmaNirbhar (Self Reliant).
