• It is a government organisation (HQ in Bangalore) in India established in 1994 in response to recommendations of National Policy in Education (1986).
• It is an autonomous body that assesses and accredits Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) such as colleges, universities/other recognised institutions to derive an understanding of the ‘Quality Status’ of the institution.
• It is funded by the UGC and evaluates the institutions in terms of their performance related to the teaching-learning processes, faculty, research, infrastructure, governance, financial wellbeing, student services, etc.

• The first step involves an applicant institution submitting a self-study report (SSR) based on quantitative and qualitative metrics.
• The data is subjected to validation by expert teams of NAAC, with quality reviewed during site visits by peer teams.
• According to the Government of India, of the 1,113 universities and 43,796 colleges in the All- India Survey on Higher Education Report 2020-21, NAAC accredited 418 universities and9,062 colleges as on January 31, 2023.

What circumstances led to the resignation of the Chair of the NAAC Executive Committee?

• Based on various complaints, the NAAC executive committee chairperson (Bhushan Patwardhan) suggested the need for an independent inquiry by appropriate high-level national agencies.
• The review panel, headed by J P Singh Joreel, was set up by NAAC executive committee chairperson, to review the functioning of the NAAC.

• Parambikulam is one of the premier Tiger Reserves of India and is endowed by nature in terms of species, habitat and ecosystem diversity.
• It is located in the Palakkad District of Kerala and lies in between the Anamalai hills and Nelliampathy hills of the Southern Western Ghats.
• Flora — It supports diverse habitat types namely; evergreen forests, moist and dry deciduous forests and grasslands.
• Fauna — Lion-tailed macaques, Malabar giant squirrel and Flying squirrel, Tarantula (largebodied spiders) etc.
• There are several endemic, rare, endangered and threatened (RET) species of flora and fauna adding to the diversity of the Reserve. To name a few,
• Coscinium fenestratum and Utleria salicifolia (the IUCN ‘red listed’ medicinal plants endemic to Anamalais)
• Tomopterna parambikulamana (an endemic frog of Parambikulam)
• Garra surendranathanii (an endemic sucker fish)

• In 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.
• The next year, the Socialist Party of America observed the first National Woman’s Day across the United States on February 28, 1909. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of February until 1913.
• Simultaneously, in 1910, the second International Conference of Working Women was held in Denmark’s Copenhagen, where Clara Zetkin, who led the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany tabled the idea of an International Women’s Day. She proposed that every year, every country should celebrate on the same day to press for their demands. The conference with over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, and working women’s clubs greeted Zetkin’s suggestion unanimously.
• On March 9, 1911, International Women’s Day was honoured for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. More than one million women and men attended the rallies campaigning for women’s rights to work, vote, be trained, to hold public office and end discrimination.
• However, less than a week later, on March 25, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire took place in New York City where more than 140 women and girls died, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. One of the deadliest fires in the history of the United States, it drew significant attention to the working conditions and labour legislation in the country and became a focal point of the subsequent International Women’s Day events.
• Meanwhile in Russia, on the eve of World War I, women observed their first International Women’s Day on February 23, the last Sunday in February, with a strike for “bread and peace” to protest the death of over two million Russian soldiers. While it was February 23 on the Julian calendar used then in Russia, according to the Gregorian calendar, it was March 8.
• Since then it has remained the global date for International Women’s Day as many women across Europe started protesting and raising their demands on that date.

• In the United Nations, it was celebrated for the first time in 1975, and in December 1977, the General Assembly adopted a resolution proclaiming a United Nations Day for Women’s Rights and International Peace to be observed on any day of the year by the Member States in accordance with their historical and national traditions.
• In 1996, the UN announced their first annual theme — “Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future”, followed by “Women at the Peace table” in 1997. In 1998 “Women and Human Rights”, in 1999 “World Free of Violence Against Women”, each year had a new theme.
• The theme for this year’s Women’s Day, according to the United Nations is “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality” and it aims to emphasise the importance of technology in bringing gender issues to light.