Famous Cherry Blossom Festival of Shillong
The famous Cherry Blossom Festival 2021 of Shillong was held in Meghalaya from 25th to 27th November, 2021.
Cherry Blossom is a three-day festival held annually.
It was inaugurated by Conrad Sangma, Chief Minister of Meghalaya and Satoshi Suzuki, who is the Ambassador of Japan to India.
The event was held at Wards Lake and Polo Ground at two locations in Meghalaya.
This festival coincides with the actual blooming of cherry blossom flowers.
Cherry Blossom
The cherry blossom is the flower of many trees of the genus Prunus or Prunus cerasus. These flowers are also known as Japanese cherry and sakura. It is the national flower of Japan. South Korea and Paris are also famous for their cherry blossom season. These flowers are found in the Himalayas as well as in the East and West Khasi hills.
International Cherry Blossom Festival
The International Cherry Blossom Festival is held every year in mid-November in Shillong, Meghalaya. The festival includes many stalls representing their region through live music and other activities such as pageants, dance competitions, cuisine, arts and crafts etc.
cherry blossom in india
Cherry blossoms are also an attraction in India, especially in the Himalayan states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Darjeeling in West Bengal. In Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, this flower is considered sacred among Hindus and is associated with Vishnu and Shiva. During Maha Shivratri, its leaves are used for wreath laying.
Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act back
The Uttarakhand government has recently withdrawn the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act. The Act was withdrawn due to protests from the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and priests and other stakeholders of major shrines.
What is Char Dham Act?
The Char Dham Shrine Management Act 2019 was enacted into law by the Uttarakhand State Legislative Assembly.
This act led to the formation of a board called the Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthanam Board. This board brought the Char Dham and 49 other temples of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri under its ambit.
The chief minister was the chairman of this board and the minister of religious affairs was the vice-president. Two MLAs from Yamunotri and Gangotri were members of this board and a senior IAS officer was the chief executive officer.
This board was responsible for the management of the temples. It had the powers to formulate policies, approve expenditure, prepare budgets. Also, the Board was empowered to issue directions for the safe custody of the temple's jewelery and properties.
How were temples managed before the Char Dham Act?
Prior to this Act, the temples were managed under the Shri Badrinath-Sri Kedarnath Act, 1939. Under this act, the Shri Badrinath-Sri Kedarnath Temple Committee was formed. The committee was headed by a person appointed by the government. The committee was responsible for taking decisions related to funds, donations and development works in and around the temples.
Why was the Char Dham Act proposed?
Most of the provisions of the Shri Badrinath-Shri Kedarnath Act, 1939 were not relevant in the present context. Thus, the Char Dham Bill was proposed. Its purpose was to rejuvenate the temples.
Why did the priests and other stakeholders oppose the Char Dham Act?
According to the protesters, the government wants to control the financial and policy decisions of the temple. In Gangotri and Yamunotri, temples were earlier under the control of local trusts. The government had no share in the donations made by the devotees.
Judge Bill introduced in Lok Sabha
The Judges Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju. The bill will amend the High Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act and the Supreme Court Judges (Salaries and Conditions of Service) Act.
What is Judge Bill?
The Bill seeks to bring clarity whether Supreme Court and High Court judges are entitled to additional pension on attaining a certain age. At present, every retired judge or his family (after his death) is entitled to an additional amount of pension. It is commonly known as family pension.
What is the matter? Why is clarity needed?
At present, retired High Court and Supreme Court judges are provided additional pension on completing 80 years or 85 years or 90 years or 95 years or 100 years, as the case may be. These are the slabs of pension. Now the confusion is whether the pension should be given from the first day of the month when he completes the age or on the first day of the month when he enters the age. The Bill incorporates clarifications regarding this issue.
What clarity does the bill provide?
The bill states that pension will be given on the first day of completion of age and not at the beginning. For this, Section 17B and Section 16B will be included.
What do the courts say about this?
In 2018, the Gauhati High Court held that the additional quantum of pension would be made available from the day he entered the slab (80 years or 85 years, etc.).
In 2020, the Madhya Pradesh High Court also ruled the same.
What are the constitutional provisions?
The salary of the judges of the Supreme Court is fixed on the basis of Article 125. Article 125 states that the salaries of the judges of the Supreme Court are determined by the Parliament by law. Also, Parliament will decide on the privileges and allowances granted to judges in respect of leave of absence and pension.
Petr Fiala becomes the new Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Petr Fiala has been named as the new Prime Minister of the Czech Republic. Following his electoral victory in October, President Milos Zeman nominated him as prime minister on 28 November.
Petr Fiala leads the centre-right coalition.
He ousted the outgoing Prime Minister Andrzej Babis with the help of several leftist parties.
Fiala's party
Fiala heads a three-party coalition namely the Civic Democratic Party, the Top 09 Party and the Christian Democrats. This alliance had secured him 27.8 percent of the vote in October. The coalition narrowly defeated the ANO Movement, which was led by billionaire Babis.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is also known as Czechia and was formerly known as Bohemia. It is a landlocked country located in Central Europe. It shares borders with Austria, Germany, Poland and Slovakia. It is a unitary parliamentary republic and developed country with an advanced, high-income social market economy. It is a welfare state that includes a European social model, tuition-free university education and universal health care.
Ranking in various indices
The Czech Republic is ranked 12th in the United Nations Inequality-Adjusted Human Development, while the World Bank is ranked 24th in the Human Capital Index. It is ahead of America. It is a member of OECD, NATO, EU and OSCE.
Along with Air India, Tata will also get stake in Cochin Airport
With the Tata group approaching the acquisition of Air India in January 2022, the $242 billion conglomerate will also get a stake in Cochin Airport in Kerala.
Tata will become the only airline to have an operational stake in a major Indian airport.
The airport is a strategic hub to connect West Asian countries to the region of India, which has a significant share of India's displaced workers.
Private carrier Indigo, along with Air India and Air India Express, also uses Cochin Airport and ferrying exotic Malayalee Gulf travelers to and from Jeddah, Riyadh, Sharjah, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Kuwait and Bahrain, among other places.
Air India holds 3 per cent stake in Cochin International Airport.
This stake has not been transferred to Air India Asset Holding Limited (AIAHL) as part of the pre-sale restructuring plan, under which select assets and debts of the national carrier have been removed from the books of AIAHL.
Tata will not get Air India's stake in certain other ventures such as Hotel Corporation of India, Air India Engineering Services, Airline Allied Services and Air India Transport Services.