Category Social Sciences

How does UNESCO decide which properties are suitable to be heritage sites?

There are over a thousand properties around the worlds designated as World Heritage Sites by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). But how does UNESCO decide which properties are suitable to be heritage sites?

Countries that have signed the World Heritage Convention and pledged to protest their cultural and natural heritage can submit nominations for consideration. Thus far, 193 countries have signed the Conversation.

UNESCO has a list of criteria explained in the Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Conversation. To be considered for inclusion in the World Heritage List a property must satisfy at least one of the ten criteria. These are regularly revised by the Committee to keep up with the evolving concept of World Heritage.

Once the nominations are in, the World Heritage Committee consisting of representatives from 21 of the member states takes the final call. This committee meets once a year to finalise the list and consults to advisory bodies which evaluate a nominated site, as mandated by the World Heritage Convention. These two bodies are the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

A tried advisory body, the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, provides the Committee with expect advice on conservation of cultural sites.

 

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How much freshwater do we have?

There’s a good reason our planet is called “the water planet- nearly two-thirds of it is covered in water. To quantify it further, that’s more than 300 million cubic miles of water. That’s quite adequate for humans, isn’t it? Well, not really. Because, 97% of it is in the oceans – salty, undrinkable and not usable for cooking or raising crops. Oh, so we have just 3%? Well, not even that much. Because about 2.5% of that is trapped in glaciers, ice caps, the atmosphere, and soil or is inaccessible because it lies very deep under the Earth’s surface. So that leaves us – over seven billion humans (and wildlife!) – with less than 0.5%. Do you know how little that is? A report says that if all the water in the world can be equated to 100 litres, then all the freshwater we have access to is about half-a-teaspoon! Our drinking and cooking water sources are groundwater, freshwater lakes, rivers, etc Though water can be seen as a renewable resource, the demand for freshwater has been slowly outdoing how much is replenished naturally, especially through the likes of rain. This is indicative not just of imbalance and a changing planet but also of potential global health and political crisis. That wars could be fought over water may not be a problem of a distant future. Which is why there has been consistent and loud calls for water conservation and recycling universally. The impact of water shortage has been showing, and when the problem becomes even more acute it will affect not just humans but also the plants and animals in it and most importantly, our planet itself as a whole.

 

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What are the interesting facts about the World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India?

1. Pampakshetra of Kishkindha

Hampi was traditionally known as Pampakshetra of Kishkindha. It takes its name from the Tungabhadra river, which was historically called Pampa. As years passed, Pampa came to be known as Pampe, and Hampi is the anglicised version of this name. Another legend has it that Hampi was originally the monkey kingdom of Kishkindha, which finds mention in the Ramayana. This is the place where Rama is said to have met Hanuman.

2. Ruled by many

Hampi is popularly known as the capital of the Vijayanagara empire. But before the rise of this empire in the 14th century. Hampi is believed to have been in the hands of the chiefs of Kampili. As early as the third century. the region is said to have been a part of the Maurya empire. The city was at its peak during the Vijayanagara rule when most of the monuments came up. The Hampi we see today. however, is how the Deccan Sultanate had left it. The Sultanate besieged the city in 1565 and destroyed several of the monuments over a period of six months.

3. A city of monuments

Today. Hampi has over 1,600 surviving remains which include forts, royal and sacred complexes, temples, riverside features, mandapas, and memorial structures Most of the monuments were built in the Dravidian style, while some were in the Indo-Islamic style of architecture. Many of the temple complexes in the ruined city were once surrounded by tanks and bazaars.

4. The SAREGAMA pillars

The Vittala temple is one of the prominent monuments in Hampi. The temple is known for its magnificent architecture. This includes 56 melodic columns, also known as musical pillars. When these pillars are tapped gently, they create musical sounds. It is fascinating to many since the pillars are constructed out of stone. The musical pillars are also called the SAREGAMA pillars.

5. A temple with an inverted tower!

The Virupaksha temple in Hampi is one of the oldest surviving temples in the world, having been built in the 7th Century. The temple, dedicated to Shiva, has withstood the test of time. There is a dark chamber with a small opening in the temple complex which exhibits a pinhole camera effect during the day. When the sun’s rays pass through this tiny opening, and fall on the western wall of the complex an inverted shadow of the main temple tower can be seen.

 

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Why is Bengali not in the list of classical languages of India?

At present there are 6 languages which are marked as classical language in India.

  • Tamil (declared in 2004)
  • Sanskrit (2005)
  • Kannada (2008)
  • Telugu (2008)
  • Malayalam (2013)
  • Oriya (or Odia) (2014)

The reason why Bengali is not in this list is – Bengali has been derived from Magadhi-Apabhransha which is again derived from Sansrit-Prakrit. Unlike the classic languages which predates bengali and are more of a direct language.

According to information provided by the Ministry of Culture in the Rajya Sabha in February 2014, the guidelines for declaring a language as ‘Classical’ are:

“(i) High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years;

(ii) A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers;

(iii) The literary tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community;

(iv) The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.”

Bengali does not satisfy all the criteria mentioned above.

 

Credit : Quora

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Do airliners fly over the Himalayas?

Not only the Himalayas but planes don’t fly directly over the Pacific ocean too. They instead choose alternative paths for flying even if they have to cover a longer distance.(ie. flight paths are curved towards the pole instead of a straight line across the Pacific).

So first and the foremost reason is the height of Himalayas.

If we talk about the Himalayas, all the peaks of Himalayas is more than 20,000 feet high which are not suitable for the commercial airplanes to fly as they fly over 30,000 feet to avoid all weather related disturbances whose centre is stratosphere. In stratosphere no weather related disturbances occur and it’s the most suitable for the airplanes to fly.

There are also other important reasons :-

No scope for emergency landing.

They avoid flying over the Pacific Ocean and opt for curved routes because the curved routes are safer as airlines then fly over the land than the ocean. Therefore they spend less time over the ocean, allowing for emergency landings. Emergency landing is done on a flat land. Moreover the Himalayan regions are also not safe for emergency landings as the region has no flat surfaces. Additionally the risk factor also increases as there are mountains everywhere.

2. All weather related events occur in troposphere and the height of troposphere ranges upto 20 km from lithosphere. In troposphere the weather is not suitable for the airplanes to fly because changing weather patterns have a negative impact on the flight of airplanes and there are chances of occurrence of unfortunate events.

3.Another important reason why commercial airplanes don’t fly over the Himalayas is that the Indian Air Force and the People’s Liberation Army Air Force conduct training sessions in the region. They restrict commercial airlines from flying above them.

4. There is also a risk of oxygen running out in these areas as airlines usually have only 20 min of emergency oxygen. So in a situation where the supply runs out, the flight must descend to at least 10,000 feet to replenish oxygen, which is known as Drift Down Procedure. But in Himalayas, descending to 10,000 feet is suicide.

5. They have to overcome the weather related disturbances and there is also scarcity of oxygen. Additionally on the peaks of the Himalayas, air turbulence is also abnormal which affects the speed of airplanes and even the passengers may face discomfort due to the scarcity of oxygen.

6. The Himalayan region is scarcely populated due to which Navigation Radar Service can be barely found and the pilots face difficulties in establishing a connection with the ground and in case of any emergency the pilot will not be able to seek any help due to poor Navigation Radar Service. So the pilots find it better to opt for alternative instead of flying over the Himalayas and the Pacific Ocean.

7. And this one is interesting :(Flat maps)

The main reason flight don’t go over the Pacific Ocean is because curved routes are shorter than straight routes.

Flat maps are confusing as the earth itself isn’t flat.

As a result the straight routes don’t offer the shortest distance. You can verify this by conducting a small experiment using a globe. Identify two locations such as the US and the Middle Asia, and then connect a piece of string directly between these two areas to mimic a straight route. Use a marker to highlight the distance . Then similarly measure a curved path. Assuming that you followed the above mentioned steps correctly, you will discover that the curved route is physically shorter than the straight route.

If you are still not convinced here is another logical reason :

Airplanes follow a geodesic curve while flying. Geodesic means the shortest distance between the points in terms of constant velocity. If there is an airport where you have to reach and the airplane hops at one airport on the way, then there is also an airport nearby with the same distance from your destination. All airplane routes are planned based on this geodesic curve but the Himalayan region and the Pacific Ocean region lacks airports.

So now you must be having a clear idea that it is not a mystery that airplanes do not fly over the Himalayas and the Pacific Ocean but it is the scientific reasons which make it impossible and doesn’t allow airplanes to fly over the Himalayan and the Pacific region.

 

Credit : Quora

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How many countries are members of the UN now?

The United Nations member states are the 193 sovereign states that are members of the United Nations (UN) and have equal representation in the UN General Assembly. The UN is the world’s largest intergovernmental organization.

In principle, only sovereign states can become UN members, and currently, all UN members are sovereign states. Although five members were not sovereign when they joined the UN, they all subsequently became fully independent between 1946 and 1991. Because a state can only be admitted to membership in the UN by the approval of the Security Council and the General Assembly, a number of states that are considered sovereign according to the Montevideo Convention are not members of the UN. This is because the UN does not consider them to possess sovereignty, mainly due to the lack of international recognition or due to opposition from one of the permanent members.

In addition to the member states, the UN also invites non-member states to become observers at the UN General Assembly, allowing them to participate and speak in General Assembly meetings, but not vote. Observers are generally intergovernmental organizations and international organizations and entities whose statehood or sovereignty is not precisely defined.

 

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