UNESCO Creative Cities Network
- Recently, Lucknow has officially submitted its nominations for inclusion in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) to be titled “City of Gastronomy’’
- It was created in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities that have identified creativity as a strategic factor for sustainable urban development.
- It was launched to promote UNESCO’s goals of cultural diversity and strengthen resilience to threats such as climate change, rising inequality, and rapid urbanisation.
- The network is aimed at leveraging the creative, social, and economic potential of cultural industries.
- Ten Indian cities are a part of the network. Kozhikode (Literature) and Gwalior (Music) feature in this list. Earlier, Jaipur (Crafts and Folk Arts), Varanasi (Music), Chennai (Music), Mumbai (Film), Hyderabad (Gastronomy), and Srinagar (Crafts and Folk Arts) have also held the spot.
Servants of India Society (SIS)
- Context: Tensions have flared between the Pune-based Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics (GIPE) and parent Servants of India Society (SIS) over control of a key bank account.
About Servants of India Society(SIS)
- The Servants of India Society (SIS) was founded by Gopal Krishna Gokhale, along with K. Devadhar, A.V. Patwardhan, and N.A. Dravid, in Pune, India, on June 12, 1905.
- The primary aim of SIS was to prepare selfless workers committed to the service of India. Its goals included:
- Promoting political education and constitutional agitation.
- Working for the national interests of the Indian people.
- Encouraging service to the nation in a missionary spirit.
- The members of the Society were considered as young missionaries of Indian nationalism.
- Several young Indian nationalists including S. Srinivas Shastri, Hriday Nath Kunzru, and A.V. Thakkar enrolled as members.
- Later M. K. Gandhi also became a member of Society under guidance of Gokhale.
- The organization has its headquarters in Pune (Poona) and branches in Chennai (Madras), Mumbai (Bombay), Allahabad, Nagpur among other places.
- The Society began publishing the Hitavada, its english-language journal from Nagpur, in 1911.
