- Global Declaration for River Dolphins: In a ground-breaking development, 11 Asian and South American countries recently signed a global declaration, the “Global Declaration for River Dolphins,” aimed at preserving the world’s six remaining river dolphin species. This declaration is designed to guide 14 nations where river dolphins inhabit, with a focus on responsible freshwater dolphin conservation. It aims to halt the decline of all river dolphin species and increase the most vulnerable populations. The declaration will escalate collaborative endeavours to safeguard the surviving river dolphin species. Countries that adopted the declaration include Bangladesh, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Peru, and Venezuela. The countries involved agreed to improve water quality in the dolphins’ habitat, create protected areas, tackle overfishing, and involve Indigenous communities in the affected regions in protecting the animals.
- All India Management Association (AIMA): AIMA was created as an apex body of the management profession with the active support of the Government of India and Industry in 1957.AIMA is a not-for-profit, non-lobbying organisation, working closely with industry, government, academia, and students to further the cause of the management profession in India. It is represented in a number of policy-making bodies of the Government of India and national associations. AIMA offers various services in the areas of testing, distance education, skill development & training, research, publications, executive education, and management development programmes. Apart from its flagship Post Graduate Diploma in Management, AIMA offers topical and industry-oriented programmes and initiatives to help management professionals and students keep in step with the times while offering state of the art business solutions for organisations and institutions.
- Banni festival: It is a traditional stick-fight. It is celebrated on the night of Dussehra celebration (Vijaya Dasami) every year. The objective of this event was to snatch the idols from God’s team, leading to a fierce battle known as the Banni Fight. This festival was celebrated by people under the Vijayanagara Empire. It is celebrated on account of the victory of Lord Mala Malleswara Swamy and Goddess Parvati over demonish Mani and Mallasura, who troubled the people in the Devaragattu region. The ritual takes place at midnight when the procession idols of the ruling deities Malamma (Parvati) and Malleshwara Swamy (Shiva) are brought down the hill temple at Neraneki. Devotees carry long sticks or lathis with them for hitting each other with these sticks on the head. The basic idea of this fight is to capture the procession idol.
- Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS): PACS are village level cooperative credit societies that serve as the last link in a three-tier cooperative credit structure headed by the State Cooperative Banks (SCB) at the state level. Credit from the SCBs is transferred to the District Central Cooperative Banks (DCCBs), that operate at the district level. The DCCBs work with PACS, which deal directly with farmers. Since these are cooperative bodies, individual farmers are members of the PACS, and office-bearers are elected from within them. A village can have multiple PACS.PACSs provide short-term, and medium-term agricultural loans to the farmers for the various agricultural and farming activities. The first PACS was formed in 1904.
Currently, there are more than 1,00,000 PACS in the country with a huge member base of more than 13 crore farmers. However, only 63,000 of them are functional.
