The Prime Minister of India recently inaugurated the two-year-long festivities marking the 200th birth anniversary of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati. Alongside this, a special logo for the commemoration was released. Each year, Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati Jayanti is celebrated to honor the birth of this influential figure, born on 12th February 1824 in Tankara, Gujarat into a Brahmin family.
Dayananda’s perspectives were encapsulated in his renowned piece, Satyarth Prakash (The True Exposition). As an Indian philosopher, social leader, and founder of the Arya Samaj, his idea of India was a society free of class and caste divisions. He drew heavily upon the Vedas as fundamental tenets of Indian culture, even coining the phrase “Back to the Vedas”. In 1886, the DAV (Dayanand Anglo Vedic) schools were established to actualize Dayanand Saraswati’s vision.
AMRITPEX 2023: India’s Grand Philatelic Exhibition
In related news, the Minister for Communications, Electronics & Information Technology recently launched AMRITPEX 2023 – a National Philatelic Exhibition. As a part of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav Celebrations, this significant five-day event took place from 11th to 15th February 2023 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. The showcase included stamps and photographic collections, centered around five themes: Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav and New India, Yuva Shakti, Nari Shakti, Nature and Wildlife, and India’s Culture and History. For the first time, innovative technology such as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality was utilized to illustrate the narratives behind the stamps.
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya: Honouring a Legacy
The Prime Minister paid tribute to Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya on his death anniversary, known as Punya Tithi. Born in 1916 in Nagla Chandrabhan village, renamed Deendayal Dham in Uttar Pradesh, he committed to working full-time in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) from 1942 onwards. He launched several publications including a monthly magazine “Rashtra Dharma”, a weekly ‘Panchajanya’, and a daily ‘Swadesh’. In 2019, a towering 63-feet statue of Pandit Upadhyaya was unveiled by the Prime Minister at the inauguration of the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya Memorial Centre in Padao on the Varanasi-Chandauli border.
Unified Payment Interface Access for G-20 Countries and NRIs
In recent financial news, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has enabled all inbound travelers from the G-20 countries and Non-resident Indians (NRIs) to use the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) for merchant payments at select airports within India. As per the RBI, banks and non-banks approved to issue Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) can provide full-KYC rupee-denominated PPIs to foreign nationals and NRIs visiting India. Currency conversion to the Indian rupee can only be conducted by entities authorized under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 (FEMA). PPIs facilitate the purchase of goods and services based on the value stored on such instruments, backed by cash, bank account debit, or credit card.
