Hakki Pikki: caught in Sudan’s civil war

• Hakki Pikki — or bird catchers of Karnataka — got caught in a civil war in Sudan
• The Hakki Pikki of India are the latest group to arrive in Al Fashir, a region that has witnessed an influx of people because of the Darfur crisis.
• A nomadic tribe, the Hakki Pikki don’t have ready access to education and vocational training; so they relied on their native wisdom to earn a living, They make herbal medicines from gathering forest produce.
• It was this traditional knowledge that found a place in the post-pandemic world. Africa has its own indigenous medicine and these herbal healers from India found ready acceptance.

HakkiPikki

• The HakkiPikki is a Kshatriya or warrior tribal community who had to migrate to South India after being defeated by the Mughals.
• ''Hakki'' means ''bird'' in Kannada, and ''Pikki'' means ''to catch''. As a result, the group is known as the ''bird catcher,'' referring to their traditional work.
• Hakki-Pikki has a population of 11,892 people, according to the 2011 census.

About

• It is a nomadic community that originated in the forests of Karnataka.
• It is a Scheduled Tribe of Karnataka.
• They are also known as Kirshaka Bandi, which means "farmers'' enemies" because they used to raid the crops of the settled farmers.
• They are well-known for their traditional medicines. For a long time, the group lived in the deep woods and developed its plant and herb-based medicinal systems.
  • Traditional medicinal knowledge of the Hakki-Pikkis is in high demand in numerous African countries. As a result, for many years, community members have travelled to the continent.
• They have their dialect, which is a mixture of Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, and Marathi.
• However, they do not feature on the list of India’s particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs).

Social Structure

• The tribe has a unique social structure, based on clans and sub-clans.
• Each clan has a headman, called a Nayaka, who is responsible for the welfare and discipline of the clan members.
  • The Nayaka also acts as a mediator in case of disputes or conflicts among the clan members or with other clans.
• The tribe follows a matrilineal system of inheritance, where property and wealth are passed down from mother to daughter.
  • Women also have more authority in decision-making and leadership roles within the family and the community.

Life Style

• The Hakki Pikki tribe has a distinctive way of life, which is influenced by their nomadic nature.
• They live in temporary huts made of bamboo and grass, which they dismantle and carry with them when they move to a new place.
• They wear colourful clothes and ornaments, made of beads, shells, coins, and feathers.
• The tribe has a rich and diverse culture, with their language, customs, beliefs, and traditions.
• Scholars dubbed their mother tongue "Vaagri." They communicate in ''Vaagri'' at home but speak Kannada daily.
  • UNESCO has designated ''Vaagri'' as one of the endangered languages.

To cut at root of narcotics, Centre plans drive against poppy, cannabis

• As the Union government intensifies its crackdown against drugs, cultivation of poppy and cannabis in area the size of over 89,000 football fields has been destroyed in the past three years.
• Aiming to make India “drug-free” by 2047, the Union Home Ministry plans to link recovery and usage of narcotics and banned substances in a particular area to the annual appraisal report of a District Superintendent of Police.
• Manipur has seen the highest-ever destruction of such crops in the past three years. State has launched an alternative livelihood scheme for farmers growing poppy illegally, and also provides cash incentives to destroy the illegal crops.
• The Farmers in Peh village of Ukhrul district were given a cash reward of ₹10 lakh for voluntarily destroying cultivated poppy. Winter hybrid vegetable seeds and saplings of pineapple, apple and spices, including ginger and turmeric, were distributed to farmers. The scheme covered 600 farmers.
• Following the directives by Union Home Minister, all States have created dedicated Anti-Narcotics Task Forces (ANTF). The first ever conference of State ANTFs was held on April 19-20.

Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (PITNDPS) Act & Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act

• The home ministry governs the Narcotics Control Bureau, the Department of Revenue (DoR) in the finance ministry administers the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substance (NDPS) Act of 1985 and the Prevention of Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act of 1988.
• The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) is a central law enforcement and intelligence agency that has been tasked with combating drug trafficking and the use of illegal substances under the provisions of the NDPS Act.
• The NDPS Act, prohibits a person from the production/manufacturing/cultivation, possession, sale, purchase transport, storage, and/or consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance.
• The PITNDPS Act, 1988 provides for detention in certain cases for the purpose of preventing illicit traffic in narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances.
• The transfer was being considered under the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. Transferring administration of the NDPS Act and PITNDPS to MHA will lead to a single command chain and unification of all matters related to narcotics.

India conducts successful trial of BMD interceptor missile

• India has successfully conducted the maiden flight trial of a sea-based endo-atmospheric interceptor missile off the coast of Odisha. The missile test was conducted by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)
• “The trial was to engage and neutralise a hostile ballistic missile threat, thereby elevating India into the elite club of nations having Naval BMD capability,” the Ministry of Defence said.

Pushkaralu festival returns to the Ganga after a gap of 12 years

• The 12-day Pushkaralu festival celebrated by Telugus started in Varanasi with the Uttar Pradesh government expecting more than one lakh pligrims to visit the city as part of the event till May 3.
• The festival, during which pilgrims worship the Ganga and their ancestors, is being organised in Varanasi after a gap of 12 years.
• It is the second event, after the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam, being organised in Varanasi which will witness a large number of South Indians visiting the city.

Pushkaram

• Pushkaram is an Indian festival dedicated to worshiping of rivers.
• It is also known as Pushkaralu (in Telugu), Pushkara (in Kannada) or Pushkar.
• It is celebrated at shrines along the banks of 12 major sacred rivers in India, in the form of ancestor worship, spiritual discourses, devotional music and cultural programmes.
• The celebration happens annually, once in 12 years along each river.
• Each river is associated with a zodiac sign, and the river for each year’s festival is based on which sign Jupiter is in at the time.

Reviving a ‘dead’ river: a cultural event to celebrate legacy of Yamuna

• The Yamuna, a river that environmentalists consider ecologically dead in Delhi, will now be the focus of a cultural push to renew India’s civilisational and socio-religious connect with its waterbodies.
• The river had been declared “almost dead” by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) in 2015 citing untreated waste flowing into it from several cities along its banks.
• The definition of a river is that it must have life, which is measured by its capacity to dissolve oxygen. The dissolved oxygen content in the Yamuna as it passes through Delhi is zero.
• Environmentalists feel that before recreating a cultural connect, the government needs to take measures to bring the river back to life.

Pollution in Yamuna

• Causes of Pollution
  • Industrial Pollution:
    • The Yamuna flows into Delhi from Haryana and the state has industrial units in Sonipat (on the banks of Yamuna). Ammonia is used as an industrial chemical in the production of fertilisers, plastics and dyes.
  • Mixing of Drains:
    • Mixing of two drains carrying drinking water and sewage or industrial waste, or both, in Sonipat. The two drains often mix due to overflow or damage to the wall that separates them.
• Effects of Rising Ammonia:
  • Ammonia reduces the amount of oxygen in water as it is transformed to oxidised forms of nitrogen. Hence, it also increases Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD).
    • Water pollution by organic wastes is measured in terms of BOD.
  • If the concentration of ammonia in water is above 1 ppm, it is toxic to fishes.
  • In humans, long term ingestion of water having ammonia levels of 1 ppm or above may cause damage to internal organs.

Yamuna

• Source: The river Yamuna, a major tributary of river Ganges, originates from the Yamunotri glacier near Bandarpoonch peaks in the Mussoorie range of the lower Himalayas in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand.
• Basin: It meets the Ganges at the Sangam in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh after flowing through Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi.
• Length: 1376 km.
• Important Dam: Lakhwar-Vyasi Dam (Uttarakhand), Tajewala Barrage Dam (Haryana) etc.
• Important Tributaries: Chambal, Sindh, Betwa, Ken, Tons, Hindon.

Microbes at the top of the world

• Recently researchers examines the human microbiota on the inhospitable slopes of Mount Everest. They were able to collect microbial communities in sediment samples left by human climbers on the South Col of Mount Everest, 7,900 metres above sea level (msl).
• The South Col is the ridge which separates Mt. Everest from Lhotse — the fourth highest mountain on earth.
• But microbes keep arriving, carried by either birds, animals, or winds. Up to about 6,000 msl, dust particles, less than 20 micrometre in diameter, are blown in by the winds.
• Using sophisticated methods such as 16S and 18S rRNA sequencing, the microbe hunters were able to identify the bacteria and other microorganisms found on the South Col.A cosmopolitan human signature is seen in the microbes collected here. Also found are modestobacter altitudinis and the fungus,naganishia, which are known to be UV-resistant survivors.

From the Past

• In 1847, Andrew Waugh, British Surveyor General of India, found a peak in the eastern end of the Himalayas which was higher than the Kangchenjunga — considered as the highest peak in the world at that time. His predecessor, Sir George Everest, was interested in high-altitude hills and had deputed Waugh to take charge. In true colonial spirit, Waugh called it the Mount Everest.
• The Indian mathematician and surveyor, Radhanath Sikdar, was an able mathematician. He was the first person to show that Mount Everest (then known as peak XV) was the world’s highest peak.
• George Everest had appointed Sikdar to the post of ‘Computer’ in the Survey of India in 1831.
• In 1852, Sikdar, with the help of a special device, recorded the height of ‘Peak 15’ at 8,839 metres. However, it was officially announced in March 1856.