UPSC Prelims Bits For Today 22 June 2022 | Daily Important Selective Current Affairs For UPSC

”UPSC Prelims Bits For Today” is every day published in the morning between 11:00 AM to 12:00 Noon and contains selective current affairs articles. ”UPSC Prelims Bits For Today” covers various topics from UPSC Prelims Syllabus and is very helpful and time managing for UPSC Aspirants. The framing of this daily current affairs compilation article is easy to read and understandable also.

In the ”UPSC Prelims Bits For Today” article, we focus on UPSC Preliminary exam-oriented current affairs covering various sections from leading National Newspapers, PIB, and other various official sources.

Veerashaiva-Lingayat community

In News

Various Veerashaiva-Lingayat seers have raised objections against the revision of the content of chapter 3 of the Class 9 Social Science Part 1 textbook titled, “Religious Promoters and Social Reformers”.

Who are the Lingayats/Veerashaiva?

• The Lingayat/Veerashaiva community, a politically dominant group in Karnataka, are devotees of Shiva.
• The Lingayats follow 12th-century saint-philosopher Basavanna who had rejected ritualistic worship and pre-eminence of the Vedas.
• The Veerashaivas sect of the community also worships Shiva idols and practises other Hindu customs.
• The Lingayats consider the Veershaivas to be part of Hinduism as they follow Hindu customs while the Veerashaivas think the community was an ancient religion established by Shiva and Basavanna was one of its saints.

Why are some Lingayats opposing?

• Various Veerashaiva-Lingayat seers have raised objections against the revision of the content of chapter 3 of the Class 9 Social Science Part 1 textbook titled, “Religious Promoters and Social Reformers”.
• While the previous textbook stated that “Basaveshwara was a strong opponent of the caste system and he threw away the ‘Sacred thread’ after his Upanayana (the thread ceremony) and went to Kudalasangama”, the revised textbook has excluded this and only mentions that “after his thread ceremony, he went to Kudalasangama”.

Strong presence in the Karnataka state

• The community has a strong presence in the Karnataka state, especially in the north.
• Lingayats constitute 17% of the total population in Karnataka.
• They are dominant in close to 100 of the 224 assembly seats, mostly in North Karnataka.
• There have been nine chief ministers from the community.

Veershaivism

What is Veershaivism?

• This movement of the Veerashaivas challenged certain traditional Hindu beliefs and practices relating to
  caste, ritual pollution, and status of women.
• The movement projected for its followers a new social order which was based on ritual equality (in terms of worship and belief), sanctity of all work, and universal ritual purity i.e. purity of all followers irrespective of sex, age and occupation.
• This movement utilised Kannada, the spoken language of the masses, to communicate its ideas.
• The movement is closely linked with the name of Basaveswara (1 105-1 167) who is identified by many as the
  founding father of the movement.
• He was instrumental in popularising it in the Kannada-speaking region of south India.
• Veerashaivas are also popularly known by another name, the Lingayats. Lingayats means bearers of the “Linga”, the symbol of Lord Shiva.
• The Veerashaivas or Lingayats worship only Lord Shiva in the form of a Linga. Veerashaivism holds that all Linga worshippers were equal and gained equal access to salvation. Salvation according to the Lingayats, came through hard work and dedication to remove social evils.

Vokkaliga Community

In news

Leaders of the Vokkaliga community are raising objections against Karnataka’s textbook revision committee’s head Mr. Chakrathirtha. They are accusing him of insulting the Nada Geethe (state anthem) and being disrespectful to a well-known Kannada poet, Kuvempu, who wrote it.

About Nada Geethe

• Naada Geethe or Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate is a Kannada Poem which was officially declared the state song of Karnataka on 6 January 2004.
• Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate Lyrics was composed by the Indian national poet Naada Kavi Kuvempu.
• The song is tuned by number of Kannada composer among which C. Ashwath and Mysore Ananthaswamy are the most popular ones. Later the Prof. Shivarudrappa Committee decided Mysore Ananthaswamy’s compostion was apt.
• Naada Geethe Lyrics is sung in every schools, colleges and on November 1st without fail, as a token of respect for the Karnataka State.

About Vokkaliga Community

• Vokkaliga (also transliterated as Vokkaligar, Vakkaliga, Wakkaliga, Okkaligar, Okkiliyan) is a community, or a group of closely-related castes, from the Indian state of Karnataka. They are also present in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu.
• As a community of warriors and cultivators, they have historically had notable demographic, political, and economic dominance in Old Mysore (region).
• It is believed by some historians that the Rashtrakutas and Western Gangas were of Vokkaliga origin.
• The Vokkaligas occupied administrative positions in the Vijaynagar Empire.

About Kempegowda

• Kempe Gowda was a great ruler, was concerned in the welfare of his subjects and spent lavishly in the construction of tanks, agraharas, temples and forts.
• He is the man who marked with towers the four corners of a Bengaluru he imagined.
• He was the chieftain from the Vijayanagar empire in the 16th century, who conceived the idea of a new city of Bengaluru while he was out hunting with a minister, is a political icon for the dominant agricultural Vokkaliga community in south Karnataka.

Anti Defection Law

In News

In light of the events unfolding in Maharashtra, with the Uddhav Thackeray government facing internal dissent from a block of 22 MLAs led by Eknath Shinde, the anti-defection law has again come into the spotlight.

What was the purpose of Anti Defection Law?

• The anti-defection law was included in the Constitution to combat the “evil of political defections”.
• The main purpose was to preserve the stability of governments.
• The law stated that any MP or MLA would be disqualified from their office if they voted on any motion contrary to the directions issued by their party.
• This means that anyone from the party having a majority in the legislature is unable to hold the government to account.
• All legislators will then have a ready explanation for their voting behaviour: they had to follow the party’s direction.

What is the situation in Maharashtra now?

• The anti-defection law mandates that if two-thirds of the strength of a party agrees to a “merger”, they will not face disqualification proceedings.
• At present, the Sena’s current strength in the Assembly is 55 MLAs. If the rebels want to merge with BJP, 37 MLAs (two-thirds of 55) have to come together to ensure they do not face disqualification proceedings under the anti-defection law.

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