Facts in News

                                     Facts in News

Jaapi, Xorai and Gamosa in Assam

As the polling date draws closer, decorative Jaapis (field hats), hand-woven Gamosas and bell-metal Xorais are making frequent appearances in Assam

Jaapi

• The jaapi is a conical hat made of bamboo and covered with dried tokou (a palm tree found in rainforests of Upper Assam) leaves.
• The first possible recorded use of jaapi dates back to the Ahom-era buranjis, or chronicles. “Kings and ministers would wear them then.

Gamosa

• The Gamosa, which literally translates to a cloth to wipe one’s body, is omnipresent in Assam, with wide-ranging uses.
• It can be used at home as a towel (uka(Plain) gamosa) or in public functions (phulam/floral gamosa) to felicitate dignitaries or celebrities, or masks.

Xorai

• It is Made of bell-metal and It essentially a tray with a stand at the bottom, with or without a cover can be found in every Assamese household.

• They primarily used to felicitate important people and guests, these important symbols of Assamese identity and culture are abundantly seen in political campaigns across the state.

Catch the Rain Campaign

• Prime Minister of India launched the “Jal Shakti Abhiyan: Catch the Rain” campaign to ”conserve rainwater.
• It is the Jal Shakti ministry’s flagship water-conservation campaign.
• It aims to push the states and stake-holders to create appropriate Rain Water Harvesting Structures (RWHS) suitable for the climatic conditions and subsoil strata before the monsoon.
• The campaign will be undertaken across the country, in both rural and urban areas.

Sinatra Doctrine

• The approach can be summed up as a policy of non-interference in internal policies of other countries and let them manage the affairs their way.
• The phrase was coined on 25th October 1989 by the Soviet foreign ministry spokesman, Gennadi Gerasimov.
• The name was taken from the song “My Way” which was popularized by Frank Sinatra, an American singer.
• The implementation of the doctrine was part of new political thinking by Mikhail Gorbachev.
• It replaced the Brezhnev doctrine, which was put forth by Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev in 1968.
  • It called on the Soviet Union to intervene, including militarily, in countries where a socialist rule was under threat.

Istanbul Convention

• The Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence is the first instrument in Europe to set legally binding standards specifically to prevent gender-based violence, protect victims of violence and punish perpetrators.
• It was adopted in 2011 and entered into force in 2014.
• It is the world’s first binding international accord designed to protect women.
• It was forged in Istanbul hence called the Istanbul convention.
• Turkey signed the accord in 2011 and has recently withdrawn out of it without providing any reason.

Namghar

• Namghar is an important cultural and religious institution in Assam.
• They are traditional Vaishnavite monasteries of Assam initiated by Srimanta Sankardeva, the 15th-century social reformer and religious preacher.
• He began the practice of setting up namghar or houses of recitation and prayer, a practice that continues to date.