GI Tag to Black Rice & Terracotta & Ocean World

• Vaid's ICS, Lucknow
• 10, Nov 2020

• GI Tag to Black Rice & Terracotta

Why in News?

GI tag was given to the black rice variety of Manipur and terracotta of Gorakhpur in April 2020.

In-Detail:

• The Geographical Indication tag had been given to Chak-Hao, a black rice variety of Manipur and Gorakhpur terracotta on 30 April.
• The Consortium of Producers of Chak-Hao black rice, Manipur filed the application. It was aided by the Department of Agriculture, Government of Manipur and the North-Eastern Regional Agricultural Marketing Corporation Limited (NERAMAC).
• The application for the terracotta was filed by the Laxmi Terracotta Murtikala Kendra in Uttar Pradesh.

Black Rice:

• Black rice, known as Chak-Hao, is in cultivation in Manipur for over centuries.
• It is known for its special aroma and glutinous rice. It belongs to the species oryza sativa.
• It is normally served as a dessert – Chak-Hao kheer – during the community feasts.
• It is a good source of vitamin E, fiber, high sources of anthocyanins, iron and antioxidants.
• Research indicates that consumption of black rice prevents and manages ailments such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypertension, high cholesterol, allergies, ageing signs and cancers.
• The black rice takes the longest cooking time of 40 to 45 mins. This is due to the presence of fibrous bran layer and higher crude content.
• The Chak-Hao cultivation is practised in various forms such as directly sowing the pre-soaked seeds, transplantation of rice seedlings raised in the nurseries and puddle fields practice in wetlands.

Terracotta:

• The terracotta of Gorakhpur is the old traditional ceramic artwork. The products are made from the special soil found in the Bhathat area of Gorakhpur district Uttar Pradesh.
• Baked-clay is called as Terracotta.
• The artists make various structures like bells, vases, animal figures, idols, lamps and chandeliers with hand-applied ornamentation.
• The major terracotta products include Hauda Elephants, Mahawatdar horse, deer, camel, five-faced Ganesh, etc.

• Some of the products that received GI tags recently are Kovilpatti kadalai mittai of Tamil Nadu, Gulbarga Tur Dal of Karnataka, Khola Chilli of Goa, and Kaji Nemu of Assam.

Topic: For Prelims and Mains

Why in news?

1. Status of Ceres has been elevated from Dwarf Planet to “Ocean World” after analyzing the data collected by NASA’s DAWN Spacecraft.
2. Currently the Dwarf Planet Ceres is located in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

Why is Ceres termed as Ocean World?

• Observations from the Dawn mission suggest the presence of briny liquid (salty water) water underneath the surface of Ceres.
• It is located to be below 40 Km deep and hundreds of miles wide, making the dwarf planet water rich.

3.  So, Ceres is termed as “Ocean World”. Till now Earth and Ceres are the only known “Ocean Worlds.”

What is a Dwarf Planet?

A celestial body is called a dwarf planet if it violates any of the below conditions

• The body should orbit around the Sun
• It should have a clearly defined path around the Sun and should not be a satellite like the Moon.
• It should have enough mass for its gravity to pull itself into a spherical shape.

1. The above conditions are prescribed by the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
2. Currently there are 5 dwarf planets in our Solar System- Pluto, Eris, Haumea, Make and Ceres.

Which factors necessitates exploration of Ceres?

1. Ceres was classified as a Dwarf planet in 2006.
2. In 2015, NASA’s Dawn mission was launched to study the celestial bodies Ceres and Vesta. It studied Ceres’s surface, composition and history.
3. According to the mission, Ceres could have hosted oceans for a significant part of their history.
4. So, the possibility of the planet having water that other planets do not have is of significant interest.
5. Signs of life on Ceres are looked out for as it is similar to Mars with an atmosphere warm enough to allow the water to flow through it.
6. Studying this planet also provides insights about the formation of the Solar System as it is considered a Fossil from that time.

❖ Positive Pay System:

• It is a new mechanism designed by RBI to end the cheque frauds like altering, counterfeiting and forging of financial instruments.
• This system works for all cheques that have a value greater than Rs.50,000/- and above.
• In this the customer issuing a cheque needs to input the cheque details and upload the image of the cheque in their net banking.
• Once the cheque is deposited in beneficiary’s bank and sent for clearing, the drawee bank (bank that issued the cheque) will cross check with the details uploaded by the customer.
• The cheque will be honored only if the details of the cheque uploaded and the physical cheque are matched else get rejected.