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GS Paper: GS1

  • 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.

    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.

    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.
    • It is most often used in official functions to felicitate guests.
    • The landscape of rural Assam features a more utilitarian version, which farmers wear to protect themselves from the harsh weather, both sun and rain, while working in the fields.
    • 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 gamosa) or in public functions (phulam/floral gamosa) to felicitate dignitaries or celebrities.
    • The popularity of the gamosa has now traveled beyond Assam and is often used by a number of public figures.
    • It was during the anti-foreigner Assam Agitation of the early 1980s, when Assamese nationalism reached its crescendo, that the gamosa assumed a new role.

    Xorai

    • Made of bell-metal, the xorai — essentially a tray with a stand at the bottom, with or without a cover — can be found in every Assamese household.
    • While it is primarily used as an offering tray during prayers, or to serve tamale-paan (betel-nut) to guests, a xorai is also presented along with the jaapi and gamosa while felicitating someone.
    • The bulk of xorais in Assam are made in the state’s bell metal hub Sarthebari in Bajali district.

  • Agri Ministry questions Global Hunger reports’ methodology

    Union Minister of State for Agriculture has questioned the methodology and data accuracy of the Global Hunger Index (GHI) report, which has placed India at 94th (out of 107 countries) rank in 2020.

    About GHI

    • GHI is a peer-reviewed annual report, jointly published by Concern Worldwide, an Ireland-based humanitarian group, and Welthungerhilfe, a Germany-based NGO.
    • It is designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels.
    • It says the aim of publishing the report is to trigger action to reduce hunger around the world.
    • According to the GHI website, the data for the indicators come from the United Nations and other multilateral agencies, including the World Health Organisation and the World Bank.

    Various indicators used

    1. UNDERNOURISHMENT: the share of the population that is undernourished (that is, whose caloric intake is insufficient);
    2. CHILD WASTING: the share of children under the age of five who are wasted (that is, who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition);
    3. CHILD STUNTING: the share of children under the age of five who are stunted (that is, who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition); and
    4. CHILD MORTALITY: the mortality rate of children under the age of five (in part, a reflection of the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments).

    What is the concern?

    • India was ranked below countries such as Nepal, Bangladesh and Myanmar when it was among the top 10 food-producing countries in the world.

    Actual scenario

    • The Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) compiled in 2017-18 showed an improvement of 4%, 3.7% and 2.3% in wasted, stunted and malnourished children respectively.
    • The first-ever CNNS was commissioned by the government in 2016 and was conducted from 2016-18, led by the Union Health Ministry, in collaboration with the UNICEF.
    • The findings were published in 2019. CNNS includes only nutrition data, whereas NFHS encompasses overall health indicators.

  • Places on PM Modi’s Bangladesh Visit

    PM Modi will be on a two-day visit to Bangladesh where he will take part in commemorations of some epochal events there.

    Bangabandhu shrine in Tungipara

    • Located about 420 kilometres from Dhaka, Tungipara was the place of birth of Rahman, the architect of the 1971 Bangladesh War of Independence.
    • This is also the place where he lies buried inside a grand tomb called the ‘Bangabandhu mausoleum’.
    • Millions of people gather here every year on August 15, to observe the day when Rahman was assassinated by a group of disgruntled army officers.

    Harichand Thakur’s shrine in Orakandi

    • Thakur was the founder of the Matua Mahasangha, which was a religious reformation movement that originated in Orakandi in about 1860 CE.
    • At a very early age, Thakur experienced spiritual revelation, following which he founded a sect of Vaishnava Hinduism called Matua.
    • Members of the sect were the namasudras who were considered to be untouchables.
    • The objective of Thakur’s religious reform was to uplift the community through educational and other social initiatives.
    • Members of the community consider Thakur as God and an avatar of Vishnu or Krishna.
    • After the 1947 Partition, many of the Matuas migrated to West Bengal.

    ‘Sugandha Shaktipith’ (Satipith) temple in Shikarpur

    • Modi is also scheduled to visit the Sugandha Shaktipeeth which is located in Shikarpur, close to Barisal.
    • The temple, dedicated to Goddess Sunanda is of immense religious significance to Hinduism.
    • It is one of the 51 Shakti Pith temples.
    • The Shakti Pith shrines are pilgrimage destinations associated with the Shakti (Goddess worship) sect of Hinduism.

    Rabindra Kuthi Bari in Kushtia

    • The Kuthi Bari is a country house built by Dwarkanath Tagore, the grandfather of Nobel laureate and Bengali poetic giant Rabindranath Tagore.
    • The latter stayed in the house for over a decade in irregular intervals between 1891 and 1901.
    • In this house Tagore composed some of his masterpieces like Sonar Tari, Katha o Kahini, Chaitali etc. He also wrote a large number of songs and poems for Gitanjali here.
    • It was also in this house that Tagore began translating the Gitanjali to English in 1912, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

    Ancestral home of Bagha Jatin in Kushtia

    • Jatindranath Mukherjee, better known as ‘Bagha Jatin’ (tiger Jatin) was a revolutionary freedom fighter.
    • He was born in Kayagram, a village in Kushtia district, where his ancestral home is located.
    • Jatin acquired the epithet ‘Bagha’ after he fought a Royal Bengal Tiger all by himself and killed it with a dagger.
    • Jatin was the first commander-in-chief of the ‘Jugantar Party’ which was formed in 1906 as a central association dedicated to train revolutionary freedom fighters in Bengal.
    • This was the period when Bengal was seething with nationalist furore against Lord Curzon’s declaration of Partition of the province.
    • Inspired by Jatin’s clarion call, “amra morbo, jagat jagbe” (we shall die to awaken the nation), many young revolutionaries joined the brand of the freedom struggle that the Jugantar Party represented.

    His legend:

    • Jatin is most remembered for an armed encounter he engaged in with the British police at Balasore in Orissa.
    • They were expecting a consignment of arms and funds from Germany to lead an armed struggle when the British found out about the plot and raided the spot where the revolutionaries were hiding. A
    • lthough Jatin lost his life in the Battle of Balasore, his activities did have an impact on the British forces.
    • The colonial police officer Charles Augustus Tegart wrote about Jatin: “If Bagha Jatin was an Englishman, then the English people would have built his statue next to Nelson’s at Trafalgar Square.”

  • [pib] Development of Rakhi Garhi Archaeological Site

    Rakhi Garhi is being developed as one of the five Identified Iconic Archaeological Sites, informed the Minister of Culture and Tourism.

    Rakhi Garhi

    • The ancient site of Rakhi-Khas and Rakhi-Shahpur are collectively known as Rakhigarhi, located on the right bank of the now dried up Palaeo-channel of Drishadvati.
    • It is located in the Ghaggar-Hakra river plain in the Hissar district of Haryana.
    • Seven mounds are located here.
    • The site has yielded various stages of Harappan culture and is by far one of the largest Harappan sites in India.
    • The site shows the sequential development of the Indus culture in the now dried up Saraswati basin.

    Try this question from our AWE initiative

    Ancient Indian sculptural art is highly rich in its traditions. Trace the development ancient Indian sculpture that go back to the Indus Valley civilisation. 10 marks

    Major findings at Rakhi Garhi

    • Findings confirm both early and mature Harappan phases and include 4,600-year-old human skeletons, fortification and bricks.
    • Digging so far reveals a well-planned city with 1.92 m wide roads, a bit wider than in Kalibangan.
    • The pottery is similar to Kalibangan and Banawali.
    • Pits surrounded by walls have been found, which are thought to be for sacrificial or some religious ceremonies.
    • There are brick-lined drains to handle sewage from the houses.
    • Terracotta statues, weights, bronze artefacts, comb, copper fish hooks, needles and terracotta seals have also been found.
    • A bronze vessel has been found which is decorated with gold and silver.
    • A granary belonging to the mature Harappan phase has been found here.
    • Fire altars structures were revealed in Rakhigarhi.

    Back2Basics: Five Iconic Archaeological Sites

    The government has proposed to develop five archaeological sites as “iconic sites” with onsite museums in Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Hastinapur (Uttar Pradesh), Sivsagar (Assam), Dholavira (Gujarat) and Adichanallur (Tamil Nadu) in the Union Budget 2020-21.

    (1) Rakhigarhi

    *discussed above*

    (2) Hastinapur

    Hastinapur in the Meerut district of Uttar Pradesh finds mention in the Mahabharata and the Puranas. One of the most significant discoveries made at this site was of the “new ceramic industry”, which was named the Painted Grey Ware, which as per the report represented the relics of the early Indo-Aryans.

    (3) Sivasagar

    In Sivasagar (Assam), excavations at the Karenghar (Talatalghar) complex between 2000 and 2003 led to the discovery of buried structures in the north-western and north-eastern side of the complex. Among the structural remains found at the site were ceramic assemblages including vases, vessels, dishes, and bowls, etc. Terracotta smoking pipes were also found.

    (4) Dholavira

    Dholavira in Gujarat is located in the Khadir island of the Rann of Kutch, and like Rakhigarhi is one of the sites where the remains of the Harappan civilization have been found. It is unique because the remains of a complete water system have been found here.

    (5) Adichnallur

    Adichnallur lies in the Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu. The urn-burial site was first brought to light during a “haphazard excavation” by a German archaeologist in 1876. Following this, an Englishman Alexander Rae excavated the site between 1889 and 1905.

  • [pib] Conservation of Ancient Folk Cultures

    To protect, preserve & promote various forms of folk art and ancient folk cultures throughout the country including Jharkhand, Bihar and Kerala, the GoI has set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) with headquarters at Patiala, Nagpur, Udaipur, Prayagraj, Kolkata, Dimapur and Thanjavur.

    What is the news?

    • Jharkhand is the member state of Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre (EZCC), Kolkata.
    • Bihar is the member state of North Central Zone Cultural Centre (NCZCC), Prayagraj and
    • Kerala is the member state of South Zone Cultural Centre (SZCC), Thanjavur.

    Note the various folk arts mentioned and their respective states:

    What are the various folk arts covered?

    There is no dedicated scheme to preserve these particular folk art forms-

    Jharkhand

    • Ancient folk cultures being preserved in Jharkhand are Faguwa Nritya, Turi Nritya, Faguwa Nritya, Turi Nritya, Paika Nritya, Hodopathy, Tribal dance (Karam Nritya).

    Bihar

    • Ancient folk cultures being preserved in Bihar are Lok Gatha “Reshma Chuharmal” (Begusarai), Lok Gatha, Godana Painting (Madhubani), Lok Natya “Hirni-Birni” (Magadh region) etc.

    Kerala

    • Ancient folk cultures being preserved in Kerala are: Poorakali, Malayankettu & Kannerpattu (Kannur), Daffumuttu (Malabar), Kanyarkali (Thrissur) and Arabanaumuttu (Kozhikode).

  • What India needs for population stabilisation

    Achieving replacement levels of fertility

    • The National Population Policy 2000 affirmed a commitment to achieve replacement levels of fertility (total fertility rate of 2.1) by 2010.
    • Ten states — Karnataka, Punjab, Gujarat, Assam, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala — and Jammu and Kashmir, have achieved this goal.
    • This fertility decline over half of India has cut across all sections of society — the privileged and the poor, those educated or not, and the high and low caste.
    • The National Family Health Survey-4 has shown how TFR has reduced even among illiterate women from all religions in the southern states.

    Growing gap between North-South

    • The difference between the progressive South and the Central- North is becoming disproportionately skewed.
    • UP and Bihar are 23 per cent of India’s population and are projected to grow by over 12 per cent and 20 per cent in the next 15 years.
    • Their high TFR pervades all religious groups.
    • Action to prevent unwanted pregnancies particularly in these two Hindi belt states is urgently required.
    • For decades UP has had a dedicated agency — SIFPSA (State Innovations in Family Planning Services Agency). But its website gives dated information.
    • Women in rural UP are still giving birth to four or more children.
    • In some districts, the contraceptive prevalence rate is less than 10 per cent.
    • In many districts neither Hindus nor Muslims use modern family planning methods.
    • In such a scenario, demographics will eclipse economic growth and destroy the gains from a young populace.
    • UP’s over-reliance on traditional methods of contraception needs to be swiftly replaced with reliable and easy alternatives.
    • Bihar has the highest fertility rate in the country and also the highest outmigration.

    Which method  should be used

    • While national and state policies emphasise male vasectomy, politicians never champion its adoption.
    • No other country in the world uses female sterilisation as excessively as India.
    • Indonesia and Bangladesh introduced injectables right from the late 1980s but India only did so in 2016.
    • Executed properly, one jab renders protection from pregnancy for three months.
    • This method needs greater impetus given the helplessness of women who carry the burden of unwanted pregnancies.

    Way forward

    • Three things are needed:
    • 1) Incentivise later marriages and child births.
    • 2) Make contraception easy for women.
    • 3) Promote women’s labour force participation.
    •  Some other disturbing nationwide trends must also be counteracted without delay because stabilisation isn’t only about controlling population growth.
    • A balanced sex ratio is essential to secure social cohesion.
    • The inheritance law favouring women’s rights to ancestral property is far from being implemented.
    • And then there is ageing. Paradoxically, it is the Southern states that will face problems in future.
    • Having largely redeemed their demographic dividend, the cohort of the elderly will start outstripping the working age population.
    • The theoretical possibility that younger people from the Central-Northern states may fill the growing gap in services will need strong political support.
    • The freeze on the state-wise allocation of seats in Parliament until 2026 was extended through the Constitutional (84th Amendment) Act, 2002, to serve “as a motivational measure to pursue population stabilisation”.
    • This goal has not been achieved.
    • In the absence of further extension, it will be politically destabilising.

    Consider the question “India’s efforts at populations stabilisation still remains work in progress, as the Northern states fail to achieve the targets. Suggest the ways to deal with the issue.”

    Conclusion

    The population momentum, if managed properly in the Hindi belt, will remain India’s biggest asset until 2055. By 2040, India will be the undisputed king of human capital.

  • Govt. reconstitutes panel for studying mythical Sarasvati River

    The Centre has reconstituted an advisory committee to chalk out a plan for studying the mythical Sarasvati River for the next two years after the earlier panel’s term ended in 2019.

    Do you know?

    Rigveda describes India as a land of Sapta Sindhavah.

    There is a verse in Nadistuti sukta of Rigveda , hymn of praise of rivers which mentions the following 10 rivers: Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Sutudri, Parusni, Asikni, Marudvrdha , Vitasta , Arjikiya , Susoma.

    The Shutudri was Sutlej, Parushni was Ravi, Asikni was Chenab and Vitasta was Jhelum.

    Sarasvati River

    • The Sarasvati River is an extinct river mentioned in the Rig Veda and later Vedic and post-Vedic texts.
    • As a physical river, it is described as a small river ending in “a terminal lake (Samudra).
    • As the goddess Sarasvati, the main referent for the term “Sarasvati” which developed into an independent identity in post-Vedic times, she is described as a powerful river and mighty flood.
    • The Sarasvati is also considered by Hindus to exist in a metaphysical form, in which it formed a confluence with the sacred rivers Ganges and Yamuna, at the Triveni Sangam.

    Vedic reference of the river

    • Rigvedic and later Vedic texts have been used to propose identification with present-day rivers, or ancient riverbeds.
    • The Nadistuti hymn in the Rigveda (10.75) mentions the Sarasvati between the Yamuna in the east and the Sutlej in the west.
    • Later Vedic texts like the Tandya and Jaiminiya Brahmanas, as well as the Mahabharata, mention that the Sarasvati dried up in a desert.

    What led to its extinction?

    • Since the late 19th-century, scholars have proposed to identify the Rig Vedic Saraswati river with the Ghaggar-Hakra river system.
    • This flows through northwestern India and eastern Pakistan, between the Yamuna and the Sutlej.
    • Recent geophysical research suggests that the Ghaggar-Hakra system was glacier-fed until 8,000 years ago, and then became a system of monsoon-fed rivers.
    • ISRO has observed that major Indus Valley Civilization sites at Kalibangan (Rajasthan), Banawali and Rakhigarhi (Haryana), Dholavira and Lothal (Gujarat) lay along this course.
    • The Indus Valley Civilisation may have declined as a result of climatic change when the monsoons that fed the rivers diminished at around the time civilisation diminished some 4,000 years ago.

  • Places of Worship Act, 1991

    The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to respond to a plea challenging the Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991. The court has opened the doors for litigation in various places of worship across the country including Mathura and Varanasi.

    Take this ‘wonderful’ question from CS Mains 2019:

    Q.What are the challenges to our cultural practices in the name of secularism?

    Places of Worship Act, 1991

    • It was passed in 1991 by the P V Narasimha Rao-led government.
    • The law seeks to maintain the “religious character” of places of worship as it was in 1947 — except in the case of the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid dispute, which was already in court.
    • The law was brought in at the peak of the Ram Mandir movement, exactly a year before the demolition of the Babri Masjid.
    • Introducing the law, then Home Minister S B Chavan said in Parliament that it was adopted to curb communal tension.

    What are its provisions?

    The objective of the law describes it as an Act to prohibit conversion of any place of worship.

    • It aims to provide for the maintenance of the religious character of any place of worship as it existed on the 15th day of August 1947, and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.
    • Sections 3 and 4 of the Act declared that the religious character of a place of worship shall continue to be the same as it was on August 15, 1947.
    • No person shall convert any place of worship of any religious denomination into one of a different denomination or section.
    • Section 4(2) says that all suits, appeals or others regarding converting the character of a place of worship, that was pending on August 15, 1947, will stand abated when the Act commences and no fresh proceedings can be filed.
    • However, legal proceedings can be initiated after the commencement of the Act if the change of status took place after the cut-off date of August 15, 1947.

    What does it say about Ayodhya, and what else is exempted?

    • Act does not to apply to Ram Janma Bhumi Babri Masjid.

    Besides the Ayodhya dispute, the Act also exempted:

    • any place of worship that is an ancient and historical monument or an archaeological site, or is covered by the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958;
    • a suit that has been finally settled or disposed of;
    • any dispute that has been settled by the parties or conversion of any place that took place by acquiescence before the Act commenced.

    What has the Supreme Court said about the Act?

    • In the 2019 Ayodhya verdict, the Constitution Bench led by former CJI Ranjan Gogoi referred to the law and said it manifests the secular values of the Constitution and strictly prohibits retrogression.
    • In providing a guarantee for the preservation of the religious character of places, Parliament determined that independence from colonial rule furnishes a constitutional basis for healing the injustices of the past.
    • The law addresses itself to the State as much as to every citizen of the nation. Its norms bind those who govern the affairs of the nation at every level.
    • Those norms implement the Fundamental Duties under Article 51A and are hence positive mandates to every citizen as well.

    Why is the law under challenge?

    • A politician has challenged the law on the ground that violates secularism.
    • He has also argued that the cut-off date of August 15, 1947, is “arbitrary, irrational and retrospective” and prohibits Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs from approaching courts to “reclaim” their places of worship.
    • Such places, he argued, were “invaded” and “encroached” upon by “fundamentalist barbaric invaders”.
    • The right-wing politicians have opposed the law even when it was introduced, arguing that the Centre has no power to legislate on “pilgrimages” or “burial grounds” which is under the state list.
    • Another criticism against the law is that the cut-off is the date of Independence, which means that the status quo determined by a colonial power is considered final.

  • The legacy and return of the Bamiyan Buddhas

    Two decades later after its destruction, the Bamiyan Buddhas have been brought back to life in the form of 3D projections in an event called “A Night with Buddha”.

    Bamiyan Buddhas

    • In their Roman draperies and with two different mudras, the Bamiyan Buddhas were great examples of a confluence of Gupta, Sassanian and Hellenistic artistic styles.
    • They are said to date back to the 5th century AD and were once the tallest standing Buddhas in the world.
    • Salsal and Shamama, as they were called by the locals, rose to heights of 55 and 38 metres respectively, and were said to be male and female.
    • Salsal means “the light shines through the universe”; Shamama is “Queen Mother”.
    • The statues were set in niches on either end of a cliffside and hewn directly from the sandstone cliffs.

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2014:

    Q.Lord Buddha’s image is sometimes shown with a hand gesture called ‘Bhumisparsha Mudra’. It symbolizes-

    a) Buddha’s calling of the Earth to watch over Mara and to prevent Mara from disturbing his meditation

    b) Buddha’s calling of the Earth to witness his purity and chastity despite the temptations of Mara

    c) Buddha’s reminder to his followers that they all arise from the Earth and finally dissolve into the Earth and thus this life is transitory

    d) Both the statements ‘a’ and ‘b’ are correct in this context

    The significance of Bamiyan

    • Bamiyan is situated in the high mountains of the Hindu Kush in the central highlands of Afghanistan.
    • The valley, which is set along the line of the Bamiyan River, was once integral to the early days of the Silk Roads, providing passage for not just merchants, but also culture, religion and language.
    • When the Buddhist Kushan Empire spread, acting as a crucible of sorts, Bamiyan became a major trade, cultural and religious centre.
    • As China, India and Rome sought passage through Bamiyan, the Kushans were able to develop a syncretic (mix) culture.
    • In the rapid spread of Buddhism between the 1st to 5th centuries AD, Bamiyan’s landscape reflected the faith, especially its monastic qualities.

    Taliban’s destruction of the Buddhas

    • The hardline Taliban movement, which emerged in the early 1990s, was in control of almost 90 per cent of Afghanistan by the end of the decade.
    • The destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas was part of this extremist culture.
    • In February 2001, the Taliban declared its intention to destroy the statues, despite condemnation and protest from governments and cultural ambassadors’ world over.

    The aftermath of the destruction

    • The Taliban’s destruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas met with global criticism, many of whom saw it as a cultural crime not just against Afghanistan but also against the idea of global syncretism.
    • Following the fall, UNESCO included the remains in its list of world heritage sites in 2003, with subsequent efforts made to restore and reconstruct.

  • National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP)

    The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Rural Development has slammed the Centre’s meagre pension allocations under National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).

    What did the new report flag?

    • The panel slammed the government’s laxity in raising the amount, pointing out the recommendations to increase the sums.
    • It observed the meagre amount of assistance ranging from ₹200 to ₹500 per month under the different components of this Scheme.
    • The panel also flagged delays and statewide disparities in the payment of wages and unemployment allowances under the flagship MGNREGA scheme.

    NSAP

    • NSAP is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme of the GoI that provides financial assistance to the elderly, widows and persons with disabilities in the form of social pensions.
    • It was launched on 15th August 1995.
    • The scheme represents a significant step towards the fulfilment of the Directive Principles in Article 41.
    • Article 41 of the Constitution of India directs the State to provide public assistance to its citizens in case of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement.
    • For getting benefits under NSAP the applicant must belong to a Below Poverty Line (BPL) family.

    Check this PYQ from CSP 2012:

    Q. Who among the following can join the National Pension System (NPS)?

    (a) Resident Indian citizens only

    (b) Persons of age from 21 to 55 only

    (c) All-State Government employees joining the services after the date of notification by the respective State Governments

    (d) All Central Governments Employees including those of Armed Forces joining the services on or after 1st April 2004

    Components of NSAP

    • The NSAP at its inception in 1995 had three components namely
    1. National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS,
    2. National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS) and
    3. National Maternity Benefit Scheme (NMBS).
    • The NMBS was subsequently transferred on 1st April 2001 from the Ministry of Rural Development to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
    • On 1st April 2000, a new Scheme known as Annapurna Scheme was launched.
    • In February 2009, two new Schemes are known as Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS) and Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS) were introduced.

    Presently NSAP comprises of five schemes, namely –

    1. Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS)
    2. Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS)
    3. Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS)
    4. National Family Benefit Scheme NFBS) and
    5. Annapurna