{"id":37446,"date":"2023-09-26T03:52:24","date_gmt":"2023-09-25T22:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=37446"},"modified":"2025-04-22T20:25:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T14:55:22","slug":"stitched-ship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/stitched-ship\/","title":{"rendered":"New Project to Reconstruct an Ancient \u2018Stitched Ship\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3><strong>What\u2019s in Today\u2019s Article?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ancient Maritime Trade Routes on the Indian Ocean<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is the \u2018Stitched Ship\u2019 Technique?<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>About the Project to Reconstruct an Ancient \u2018Stitched Ship\u2019<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The Voyage and its Significance<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>What is Project Mausam?<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In another move among the series of steps taken by the government to reclaim India\u2019s long-lost heritage in different sectors, <strong>the Centre now plans to revive the ancient maritime heritage.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The Ministry of Culture has recently joined hands with the Indian Navy and Goa-based Hodi Innovations <strong>to reconstruct an ancient stitched ship<\/strong> &#8211; that traversed India&#8217;s ancient maritime trade routes around 2,000 years ago.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Ancient Maritime Trade Routes on the Indian Ocean:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p><strong><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/media\/editor_images\/2023\/9\/26\/12\/27\/5\/651280c16ea8101e90e1b194_OI.PNG\" \/><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>According to the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), naval trade on the Indian Ocean <strong>dates back to the 3<sup>rd<\/sup> century BC.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>During this time, residents of the <strong>Indus Valley<\/strong> opened maritime trading with <strong>Mesopotamia, Egypt, East Africa, and the Roman Empire<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Through these maritime trade networks, <strong>many goods were exchanged<\/strong>, including medicine, aromatics, spices, wood, grain, gems, textiles, metal and stones.<\/li>\n<li>The trade, in turn, <strong>facilitated the exchange of religions, cultures and technologies<\/strong>, contributing to the expansion of Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is the \u2018Stitched Ship\u2019 Technique?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>This age-old technique involves <strong>shaping the wooden planks<\/strong> using the traditional steaming method to conform to the shape of the hull.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Each plank will then be stitched<\/strong> to another using cords\/ ropes, sealed with a combination of coconut fibre, resin, and fish oil &#8211; similar to the ancient Indian shipbuilding practice.<\/li>\n<li>The ancient stitching technique almost<strong> became extinct after the Britishers came to India<\/strong>, where the wooden planks were attached to support the recoil of canons.<\/li>\n<li>Sewn boat construction techniques were used prior to the development of metal fasteners, and continued to be used for small boats <strong>to reduce construction costs where <\/strong>metal fasteners were too expensive.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>About the Project to Reconstruct an Ancient \u2018Stitched Ship\u2019:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The project was approved by the <strong>National Implementation Committee<\/strong>, chaired by the Union Home Minister, in (December) <strong>2022<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>While the <strong>Indian Navy is overseeing the ship\u2019s design and construction<\/strong> and would also be sailing the ship along ancient maritime trade routes, <strong>the Ministry of Culture has fully funded the project<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>The project is set to cost Rs 9 crore and is expected to take around 22 months to complete and will be in synergy with the <strong>Ministry of Culture\u2019s Project Mausam.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The ministries of Shipping and External Affairs will be supporting the project in its execution stage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The stitching work<\/strong> will be undertaken by a team of traditional shipwrights led by Babu Sankaran, considered an expert in the stitched ship technique.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Voyage and its Significance:<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Once the ship is ready, the voyage with a seam of 13 Indian Navy crew from Odisha\u2019s Cuttack <strong>will be sent to Bali in Indonesia<\/strong>, in (November) 2025.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The navigation techniques<\/strong> used for the voyage will <strong>also be in consonance with old times<\/strong>, also aiming <strong>to show the sophistication India had achieved in this field at the time.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The voyage will be a part of the initiative<strong> to revive and honour India\u2019s old maritime trade routes.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>This is also in line with the <strong>larger decolonisation project<\/strong> undertaken, in the run-up to 2047, <strong>when independent India turns 100<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><strong>What is Project Mausam?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Launched in <strong>2014 <\/strong>(at the 38th World Heritage Session at Doha), Project Mausam is led by the Ministry of Culture and implemented by the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), New Delhi.<\/li>\n<li>Project Mausam aims &#8211;\n<ul>\n<li>To <strong>reconnect and re-establish <\/strong>maritime cultural connections with the 39 countries bordering the Indian Ocean.<\/li>\n<li>To create an understanding of cultural values and concerns.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Project Mausam is<strong> said to be India\u2019s answer to the Maritime Silk Road of China<\/strong>, and India plans to move UNESCO to award transnational heritage status to Project Mausam.<\/li>\n<li>Several countries including the <strong>UAE, Qatar, Iran, Myanmar, and Vietnam<\/strong> have expressed great interest in this multifaceted cultural project.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q1) What is the National Implementation Committee?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A National Implementation Committee under the chairmanship of the Union Home Minister had been constituted to guide the policies and programs to be undertaken by various Ministries of Government of India under the India@75 commemoration.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q2) What is the Maritime Silk Road of China?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is a key component of China&#8217;s Belt and Road Initiative, a major development plan that aims to connect China with the rest of Asia, Africa and Europe.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-politics\/kerala-govt-centre-co-operative-sector-8955852\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><u>What is the Central govt and Navy\u2019s new project to reconstruct an ancient \u2018stitched ship\u2019?<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The project to reconstruct an ancient \u2018stitched ship\u2019 will be jointly implemented by the Indian Navy (ship\u2019s design, construction and sailing) and the Ministry of Culture (funding the project)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":37447,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-37446","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}