Context:
PM Modi is on a two-day visit to Varanasi where he addressed a Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra event. He is also scheduled to inaugurate the second edition of the Kashi Tamil Sangamam during this visit.
Relevance:
GS I: Culture
Dimensions of the Article:
- Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra
- Kashi Tamil Sangamam
Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra:
- Government initiative to raise awareness and monitor the implementation of key central schemes.
- Schemes include Ayushman Bharat, Ujjwala Yojana, PM Surkasha Bima, PM SVANidhi, etc.
Aims:
- Reach eligible but unbenefitted vulnerable populations.
- Disseminate information and create awareness about various schemes.
- Interact with beneficiaries through personal stories/experience sharing.
- Enroll potential beneficiaries based on Yatra-derived details.
Implementation:
- Active involvement of Union ministries and state governments in the program.
Achievements:
- Over 2.50 crore citizens reached in just one month across 68,000 Gram Panchayats.
- Nearly 2 crore individuals participated in Viksit Bharat Sankalp.
- Over 2 crore beneficiaries shared their experiences through the ‘Meri Kahani Meri Zubani’ initiative, according to government’s PIB.
About Kashi Tamil Sangamam
- The Kashi Tamil Sangamam commemorates a variety of characteristics of the North and South of India’s shared history and culture.
- The overarching goal is to strengthen the bonds between the peoples of the North and the South by bringing their respective knowledge systems and cultural traditions closer together.
- It is being put on by the Ministry of Education in association with the Government of Uttar Pradesh and other ministries including Culture, Textiles, Railways, Tourism, Food Processing, Information & Broadcasting, etc.
- The project is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP), which places a strong emphasis on fusing the richness of Indian Knowledge Systems with contemporary knowledge systems by the year 2020.
- The program’s two implementing organisations are IIT Madras and Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
Cultural Significance:
- In order to construct a temple for Lord Shiva, King Parakrama Pandya of the area around Madurai in the 15th century travelled to Kashi (Uttar Pradesh) and brought back a lingam.
- He took a break under a tree while travelling back, but when he tried to move on, the cow carrying the lingam stood still.
- When Parakrama Pandya realised that this was the Lord’s intention, he put the lingam in the area, which later became known as Sivakasi, Tamil Nadu.
- The Pandyas had constructed the Kasi Viswanathar Temple for devotees who could not go to Kashi at what is now Tenkasi in southern Tamil Nadu, near to the state’s border with Kerala.
-Source: Indian Express
