Current Affairs

Thiruvalluvar: 

• Thiruvalluvar, also called Valluvar, was a Tamil poet-saint. 
• He is regarded as a cultural and moral icon for Tamils across caste and religious lines. 
• The period when he lived is debated, as is his religious identity. 
• Some place him in the third or fourth century; others put him in the eighth or ninth. 
• Some call him a Hindu; some trace his past to Jainism; Dravidian groups count him as a saint, as he dismissed the caste system. 
• His primary work Thirukkural (contribution to Tamil Literature) contains 1330 couplets (kurals). 
• The text is divided into three parts with teachings on dharma, artha, and kama (virtue, wealth and love).

Social Significance of Thiruvalluvar: 

• A statue of the legendary Tamil poet was unveiled in Ulsoor, near Bengaluru, in 2009. A statue of Valluvar was also erected outside the School of Oriental and African Studies in Russell Square, London. 
• A 133-foot tall statue of Thiruvalluvar stands at Kanyakumari as well. 
• The Thiruvalluvar University was established in Vellore district of Tamilnadu by the Government of Tamilnadu in October 2002. 
• In 1976, a temple-memorial called Valluvar Kotam was built in Chennai and houses one of the largest auditoriums in Asia. 
• In the early 16th century, a temple dedicated to Thiruvalluvar was built within the Ekambareswarar temple complex in Mylapore, Chennai.

News: - 

• The Tripura government has allocated land for the rehabilitation of the last batch of Mizoram Bru refugees. 
• These refugees were granted permanent settlement in Tripura through a Home Ministry initiated quadripartite agreement signed in January 2020. 

Bru refugees 

• Brus, also referred to as Reangs, are a tribal community indigenous to northeast India. They have historically resided in parts of Mizoram, Tripura, and Assam. 
• In the state of Tripura, the Brus are a designated Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG). 
• While many Brus of Assam and Tripura are Hindu, the Brus of Mizoram converted to Christianity over the years. 

Bru-Reang Refugee Crisis 

• Most Brus residing in Tripura today have suffered more than two decades of internal displacement. 
• They were forced to leave their homes due to ethnic persecution, mainly from Mizoram. 
• It all started in 1995, when different groups in Mizoram demanded that Brus be eliminated from Mizoram’s electoral rolls as they were not indigenous inhabitants. 
• Being ethnically distinct from the majority Mizos, the Brus are often referred to as “Vai” in the state, meaning outsiders or non-Mizos. 
• Tensions escalated after the Brus retaliated against the Mizos’ attempts to disenfranchise them. 
• They organized themselves into an armed group, the Bru National Liberation Front, and a political entity, the Bru National Union. 
• They also demanded the creation of a separate Bru Autonomous District Council (ADC) in western Mizoram as per the provisions of the sixth schedule of the Indian Constitution. 
• Hence, the resultant ethnic clashes forced many Brus to migrate to neighboring Tripura in 1997.
• Today, roughly 35,000 Reangs continue to reside in north Tripura’s Kanchanpur camp as refugees, as per Home Ministry estimates. 

Attempts to resettle the Brus Early attempts 

• The state governments, along with the union government have made multiple attempts to send Brus back to their homeland in Mizoram. 
• But until 2014, only an estimated 5,000 individuals, or 1622 Bru-Reang families returned to Mizoram in various batches. 

Quadripartite pact of 2018 

• In July 2018, the governments of Tripura, Mizoram, and the central government concluded a quadripartite pact with Bru community representatives to resettle refugees in Mizoram. 
• This was however opposed by not only native Mizo groups, but also by the Reangs who feared threats to life and further ethnic repression in their home state. 

2020 agreement 

• The four groups once again came together in January 2020 to sign another quadripartite pact to resettle the Brus, this time in the state of Tripura. 
• The central government earmarked a Rs 661 crore package to aid the rehabilitation efforts. 

The Bru families were promised: 

• a residential plot, 
• a fixed deposit of Rs 4 lakh, 
• Rs 1.5 lakh grant to construct their houses, 
• free ration and monthly stipend of Rs 5,000 for a period of two years. 
• Additionally, the renewed 2020 pact also promised to include the displaced Reangs in the electoral rolls in Tripura. 

News Summary: 

Bru Refugees and Their Rehabilitation 

• The Tripura government has allocated land for the rehabilitation of the last batch of Mizoram Bru refugee. 
• As per the agreement, a total of 6,959 Bru tribe families comprising 37,136 persons, were to be permanently settled in 12 different locations across four districts in Tripura.
• The settlement process has now been completed with the State government identifying and allocating land for the final group of refugees.

Kachchhi Kharek, the indigenous variety of dates of Kutch, has become the second fruit of Gujarat to get a geographical indication (GI) tag from the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks (CGPDT) of India. 

About Kachchhi Kharek: 

• The presence of dates in Kachchh (Kutch) is believed to be around 400-500 years old. 
• It is believed that date palm groves along the north-western border of India have developed from the seeds thrown by the settlers, who used to visit Middle-East countries for Haj. 
• It is also probable that the Arab gardeners working in the palaces of the former rulers of Kachchh might also have contributed to the import of the date seeds and offshoots from Arab countries. 

Features 

• Dates grown in Kutch are harvested at the khalal stage, the stage when fruits have matured, accumulated sucrose, and have turned red or yellow but are still crisp. 
• The Kutch date season typically commences on June 15 each year, and the trees are known for their tolerance to salinity and adaptability to extreme drought and heat conditions. 
• In other countries, they are allowed to ripen further till they become soft and dark brown or black in color. 
• Kachchh is the only place around the globe where fresh dates are economically cultivated, marketed, and consumed.  There are around two million date palms in Kutch today and around 1.7 million of them are seedling-origin palms of deshi (indigenous) varieties. 
• They are seedling propagated palms, each of them is a unique palm in itself, representing a vast range of diversity in characteristics. 
• The area accounts for more than 85 % of total date palm cultivation in India. 
• These dates in Kutch have to be harvested at khalal stage as they can’t withstand moist weather.

The President and Prime Minister recently conveyed their warm wishes to Indian Army personnel on the occasion of Army Day. 

About Indian Army Day: 

• Indian Army Day is celebrated every year on January 15. 
• On the special occasion of Army Day, the officials will perform a parade in the presence of higher dignitaries, and its salute is taken by the Indian Army Chief. 

History: 

• On January 15, 1949, Field Marshal K.M. Cariappa became the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, and took over authority from the British Commander-in-Chief General Francis Butcher, and became the first Indian to command the Army in its long, rich history. 
• From 1949 until 2022, the Army Day parade was organised at the Cariappa Parade Ground in the Delhi Cantonment. In 2023, the Southern Command was responsible for the parade in Bengaluru. It was the first time the Army Day parade was held outside the country’s capital. 

Indian Army Day 2024: 

• This year marks the 76th Army Day. 
• This year, the parade will be held under the command of Army's Central Command, which is headquartered in Lucknow. 
• The theme of Indian Army Day 2024 is “In Service of the Nation”. 
• This year’s theme also resembles the motto of the Indian Army, “Service Before Self.” 

Field Marshal KM Cariappa 

• He was the First Indian Commanderin-Chief of the Indian Army and led the Indian forces on the Western Front during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1947. 
• He is one of the two Indian Army officers to hold the highest rank of Field Marshal(the other being Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw). 
• He was appointed as the first Commander-in-Chief of an independent Indian Army on 15 January 1949 which is celebrated as Indian Army Day. 
• He took over the command of the Indian Army from General Sir FRR Bucher, the last British Commander-inChief. 
• In 1947, Cariappa was the first Indian who was selected to undergo a training course at Imperial Defence College, Camberley, UK on the higher directions of war. 
• He was awarded the ‘Order of the Chief Commander of the Legion of Merit’ by American President, Harry S. Truman. The Government of India conferred the rank of Field Marshal on Cariappa in 1983.