ARCHIVES

GS-1

National Tribal Carnival

(Topic: Indian Culture and Tradition)

About- First National Tribal Carnival will be held in Delhi from April 29 to May 02, 2016.

Purpose- To showcase and promote various facets of tribal culture on a large scale- Culture + Tradition + Customs + Skills and to expose it to the general population with a view to utilize the potential for overall holistic development of the Scheduled Tribes

Event Highlights-

• Displaying documented traditional socio-culture aspects,
• Collection of art/artefacts,
• Cultural performances,
• Demonstration of skills like sports,
• Paintings
• Traditional healing practices etc

GS-2

Memorandum of Understanding between India and Sweden

(Topic: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interest)

About-Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval to MoU signed on 15^th February, 2016 between India and Sweden on Technical Cooperation in the Railway Sector.

MoU will enable technical cooperation in the following areas-

• Benchmark railways policy development, regulations, organization and specific characteristics for each country.
• Exchange of knowledge, technical expertise, innovation, technology, sustainable solutions and research.
• Other cooperation projects agreed between the participants, such as, freight operations in cold regions, tilting coaches/trains, capacity allocation (time tabling) and optimisation of maintenance and improved freight/combination traffic.
• Training and continuing education program in reliability and maintenance of rail transport system for railway engineers and managers.

MoUs provide-

• Platform for Indian Railways to interact and share the latest developments and knowledge in the railway sector.
• Facilitate exchange of-
• Technical experts,
• Reports and technical documents,
• Training and seminars/workshops focusing on specific technology areas and other interactions for knowledge sharing.

National Programmes for Smart Pumps for Farmers and Energy Efficient Fans 

(Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation)

About- In order to make country more energy efficient:

• National Energy Efficient Agriculture Pumps Programme
• National Energy Efficient Fan Programmein Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
• Vijayawada to be the first city to implement the National Energy Efficient Fan Programme
• EESL will distribute 2 lakh Smart SIM-enabled Agricultural Pumps sets free of cost to the farmers in AP

 FEATURES OF NATIONAL ENERGY EFFICIENT AGRICULTURE PUMPS PROGRAMME

• Smart BEE star rated Energy Efficient Agricultural Pump sets be distributed to farmers
• Farmers can replace their inefficient agricultural pump sets free of cost.
• Pumps to come with Smart Control Panes that has a SIM card and a Smart Meter.
• Smart Control Panel will enable a farmer to switch on or switch off these pumps through his mobile and sitting at the comfort of his home.
• Smart meters to ensure the farmers to monitor consumption on real time basis.

FEATURES OF NATIONAL ENERGY EFFICIENT FAN PROGRAMME

• Energy-Efficient, 50 Watts and 5-Star Rated Ceiling Fans
• Fans are 30% more energy efficient as compared to conventional fans, which range from 75- 80 Watts
• At present, two energy efficient fans will be provided to each consumer at Rs 60 a month per fan on EMI basis
• It is estimated that consumer’s electricity bill will reduce by about Rs 700-730 per year- which means that the cost of this fan can be recovered in less than 2 years.

Transnational Skill Standards in India

(Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation)

Aim-

• To support two major initiatives of the Government: Make in India + Skill India
• To align to skill standards which are recognized globally

MoUs signed between- NSDC + Association of Colleges (UK) and NSDC + UK Awarding Organization City & Guilds + Pearsons Education

MoUs signed to-

• Enable sharing of best practice
• Staff exchange and development of new models to increase employer engagement and investment in skills

India-UK Partnership-

• Standards in skill development are benchmarked to United Kingdom across 82 identified job roles
• India chose UK standards to benchmark Indian Skills standards since all the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries recognize UK skill certification.
• Transnational Standards will highlight the gaps in Indian Standards against the UK standards.
• To cover the gaps, those intending to migrate, will undergo ‘bridge training’.
• Further Education Colleges (FE) of the United Kingdom will partner with Indian Training Providers to impart training on bridge courses.
• FE Colleges to set up Skill Academies of Excellences in the identified sectors in India.
• Further the UK Awarding organization, such as City & Guilds and Pearsons, in association with Indian SSCs will certify the trainees on the gap.

Importance-

• Endeavour to benchmark the standards so as to support international mobility of Indian workforce and also prepare them to work in international companies having their operations in the country.
• To bring more quality in vocational education which will open more avenues for employment across countries for the youth

Indian Sector Skill Councils participated in the project are- Automotive + Agriculture +Life Science + Healthcare + Capital Goods + Apparel + Textiles + Beauty and Wellness + Telecom + Hospitality + IT & ITeS + Construction + Retail + Electronic and Security

Farmers’ Fair and Exhibition for creating awareness among the farmers about Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana

(Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation)

About- Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India is organising Farmers’ Fair and Agricultural Exhibition across the country at 583 Krishi Vigyan Kendras

Aim-

• To create awareness among farmers about new Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana
• Information, knowledge and advisory on various crops, horticulture, livestock and poultry related questions are also being addressed by the Scientists in the farmers-Scientists interface programme being organised by the KVKs.

Key Highlights-

• Literature about the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana is being provided to the farmers.
• Question-answer sessions are also being held and a comprehensive CD containing the film on the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojana is also being shown to the farmers.

‘Grand Innovation Challenge’

(Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation)

About- NITI Aayog launched the first phase of the ‘Grand Innovation Challenge’ to seek citizens’ inputs on the key developmental challenges facing India.

Grand Innovation Challenge is being launched on- MyGov portal, to involve citizens at the very first stage in innovating for India’s development.

Idea is to- Work together with the States and every citizen as ‘Team India’ to ensure progress leaving no one behind.

Focus on-

• Social sector,
• Most vulnerable sections
• To involve citizens in crowd sourcing ideas to address challenges facing India’s development

Phase I

• NITI Aayog will seek the views of the citizens on the key challenges facing India, across areas significant for the country’s development.
• Idea is to find out from the people what are the critical issues which need to be addressed to develop the social sector and the challenges which need to be tackled on a priority basis

Phase II

• Shortlist of the urgent challenges as suggested by citizens would be prepared and innovative solutions would be sought from the people to address them using appropriate technology
• Idea is to encourage innovation, entrepreneurship & citizen-led solutions to problems through this Grand Challenge.

End phase-

• NITI Aayog will identify and acknowledge 10 most pressing challenges from among those suggested by the citizens of India.
• Best 10 entries will receive certificates of acknowledgement from NITI Aayog.
• Shortlisted candidates will be invited to NITI Aayog as special guests for a discussion on the Atal Innovation Mission, along with key policy makers of the Government of India.

Background-

• Move comes in the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s initiative to reiterate the importance of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for India’s Development at various forums
• NITI Aayog is leading this key goal for India by formulating guidelines for implementing the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM).
• With the launch of AIM, NITI will provide fillip to the swelling Innovation potential in the country.
• Partnering with the best minds nationally and internationally will bring together experts in academics, technology, industry, entrepreneurship and research.

Special Purpose Vehicle for Bhubaneswar Smart City takes off 

(Topic: Government Projects and its implementation)

About- Odisha capital Bhubaneswar which came at the top of the first batch of 20 smart cities selected by the Ministry of Urban Development also became the first to get its Special Purpose Vehicle.

Project management undertaken through-

• Engagement of Project Management Consultancy.
• CEO was authorized to finalize the terms and conditions and manner of recruitment and also engage agency for providing various services.

Smart City Guidelines- Under Smart City Mission Guidelines, SPVs for each smart city are to be set up to enable faster execution of projects by delegating to them powers of various concerned departments and agencies.

International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day

(Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/ Services relating to Health, Education, and Human Resources)

About- AYUSH inaugurated the International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day.

Homoeopathy in India-

• Potential of Homoeopathy remains largely unexplored and, therefore, underutilized in public health, despite the fact that Homoeopathy is practiced in more than 80 countries of the world and is known to be effective in various communicable and non-communicable diseases, chronic diseases and diseases of children and mothers.
• During pregnancy, when expecting mothers are usually advised not to take much medication, Homoeopathy is a safe alternative.
• Scope of prevention of various epidemic diseases through Homoeopathy is also huge, but not yet tapped.

Government Efforts-

• To develop centers of excellence in Homoeopathy.
• North Eastern Institute of Ayurveda and Homoeopathy is being given impetus and work on All India Institute of Homoeopathy has been initiated.
• Centers of excellence so formed would be models for education, research and patient care in specific fields.

World Homoeopathy Day-

• The International Convention on World Homoeopathy Day is being organised by CCRH, an autonomous research organization of Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India and an international organization Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalis (LMHI)
• Event is being organized to commemorate the 261^stbirth anniversary of the founder of Homoeopathy Dr. Christian Friedrich Samuel Hahnemann, a German physician, who was a great scholar, linguist and acclaimed scientist

Theme of the convention is- ‘Integrating Homoeopathy in Healthcare’

Convention will deliberate upon-

• Various significant issues in Homoeopathy
• Includes special sessions on- ‘Homoeopathy on Cancer’+ ‘Homoeopathy on Mental Health’+ ‘Homoeopathy on Epidemics’+ ‘Homoeopathy on Public Health’ + ‘Clinical Research studies’ + ‘Drug Validation and Drug Development’ among others.

Launch of new health initiatives and Mobile APPS

(Topic: Government health initiatives)          

About- Celebrating the World Health Day, the Health Minister launched several new e-health and m-health initiatives.

Aim-

• To focus on the youth and adolescents of the country,
• To prevent and combat lifestyles diseases such as Diabetes
• Prevention and awareness about non-communicable diseases which are largely linked with our way of living, dietary habits, lack of exercise etc.

Initiatives Launched-

‘Swasth Bharat Mobile application’ and ‘ANM Online application-ANMOL’

• ANMOL is a tablet-based application that allows ANMs to enter and updated data for beneficiaries of their jurisdiction.
• Ensure more prompt entry and updation of data as well as improve the data quality since the data will be entered “at source” by providers of health services themselves.

‘E-RaktKosh initiative’

• It is an integrated Blood Bank Management Information System that has been conceptualized and developed after multiple consultations with all stakeholders.
• Initiative will be of great use to persons and families in need of blood transfusion.
• Application launched will enable not only information of the nearest blood bank on a mobile but also of the availability of the particular blood group in a given radius.

‘India Fights Dengue’-

• As the fight against Vector Borne Diseases, especially Dengue, can be won only with effective community participation, this App empowers the community members how to contribute towards prevention of Dengue.

Guidelines for Dialysis Centre in a PPP Mode

• Every district in the country will have the facility of a Dialysis Centre operated under the PPP mode to leverage the potential of the private sector.
• Expanded facilities will help the renal disorder patients and reduce the out-of-pocket expenditure incurred on dialysis.

Union HRD Minister Releases ‘India Rankings 2016’: India’s First Ever Rankings of Indian Institutions

(Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/ Services relating to Health, Education, and Human Resources)

About- Union Minister of Human Resource Development released the India Rankings 2016 and dedicated India’s first ranking to the nation.

India Rankings 2016– 

• National Institutional Ranking framework (NIRF) is the first of its kind.
• Rankings are a step towards bringing the Indian institutes on a global platform.

Importance-

• Ranking would empower citizens as it would endow them with the power as to how they observe the institutions to be.
• Rankings will also help students make informed choices about the institutions they want to join
• One of the  biggest challenges in the higher education sector have been that citizens who engage with these institutions feel that there is no level playing field in terms of transparency and the data that they need from these institutions with regard to the choices they, specially the students, need to make.

 GS-3

 First New Semi High-Speed Train “Gatimaan Express” flagged off

(Topic: Infrastructure- Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc)

Aim–  To increase average speed of all passengers and freight trains and Indian Railway have already started working on mission “Raftaar” and would be accomplished in 5 years time.

Key Features-

• Gatimaan Express-
• Is indigenously built
• Coaches to be used, are new LHB coaches with enhanced passenger amenities are turned out by RCF/Kapurthala
• Coaches have been fitted with bio toilets

• IRCTC- Onboard catering on this train is being organized by Railways’ PSU, namely Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)

• Train Speed-
• 160 km per hour, covering the 184 km distance between Delhi and Agra in 105-110 minutes.
• Powered by a 5500 HP electric locomotive, the non-stop train will have two Executive AC Chair Car and eight AC Chair Car coaches.

• Technology-
• Another unique feature of this train is free of cost on board entertainment facility.
• Under this facility, passengers can view various entertaining videos during travel on their Smart Phones, Tablet or Laptops even without internet connection through Wi-Fi.

“India Water Week”

(Topic: Water conservation)

India Water Week— A key initiative for sharing best practices and exchanging ideas to identify timely solutions to the critical water issues confronting our world today.

To showcase- Technologies and solutions for improving efficiencies in water use.

Prioritize- Resilient eco-systems, modern data management systems and innovations in technology

Important programmes to achieve this objective-

• Government’s Krishi Sinchayee Yojana,
• Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan
• Integrated Watershed Management Programme

22^nd Basic Ministerial Meeting on Climate Change

(Topic: Climate Change, Environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment)

About- Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is organising the 22^nd meeting of Brazil, South Africa, India and China, called the BASIC Group.

Aim- To discuss climate change related issues, including how to take forward the decisions adopted in the Paris Agreement.

Meeting is being organized In- New Delhi on 6^th and 7^th April 2016.

Extremely relevant because-  It will help to further consolidate the positions of the countries and secure the interests of developing countries, before the 196 UNFCCC member countries meet for the first time in May 2016 after the adoption of the Paris Agreement.

BASIC-

• First meeting of the BASIC Group, after the Paris Agreement was adopted in December 2015.
• Ministers reflect and deliberate on various provisions of-
• Paris Agreement and related decisions including Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC)
• Transparency framework for action and support
• Matters relating to global stocktake
• Progress towards achieving the 20 C goal and the Pre 2020 Actions and review issues.

About 21^st BASIC Meeting-

• Held in-> Beijing, China, in 2015
• Highlighted-> Importance of cooperation among developing countries.
• Voiced their support for-> Further strengthening common positions of developing countries in Paris through the Group of 77 and China.

National Hydrology Project 

(Topic: Conservation, environmental impact assessment, disaster and disaster management)

About- Union Cabinet has given its approval to Implementation of the National Hydrology Project

Aim-

• Water management through scientific data collection,
• Dissemination of information on water availability in all blocks of the country
• Establishing of National Water Information Centre
• To reduce water disaster ultimately helping vulnerable population

Help in– Gathering Hydro-meteorological data which will be stored and analysed on a real time basis and can be seamlessly accessed by any user at the State/District/village level.

Project envisages to cover-Entire country as the earlier hydrology projects covered only 13 States.

NHP will result in the improvement of:

• Data storage, exchange, analysis and disseminationthrough National Water Informatics Centre.
• Lead time in flood forecastfrom 1 day to at least 3 day
• Mapping of flood inundation areasfor use by the disaster management authorities
• Assessment of surface and ground water resourcesin a river basin for better planning & allocation for PMKSY and other schemes of Govt. of India
• Reservoir operationsthrough   seasonal yield   forecast, drought management, SCADA systems, etc.
• Designof SW & GW structures, hydropower units, interlinking of rivers, Smart Cities.
• Fulfilling the objectives of Digital India
• Inculcate a people centric approach

Foundation Stone for Underground Cabling Work Under IPDS At Varanasi 

(Topic: Science and technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life)

About- Foundation stone for underground cabling work under ‘Integrated Power Development Scheme (IPDS)’.

Launched– “Kashi-IPDS Mobile App” for project monitoring of IPDS activities in Old-Kashi in a transparent manner

Aim- To strengthening the power sub-transmission and distribution network in urban areas across the country and help to ensure 24×7 power for all.

App provides-

• Details of plan,
• Progress of various activities,
• Proposed timelines,
• Area-wise work plan etc. for better information dissemination.

Help- Implementation of the IPDS scheme will help in improving the quality and reliability of power supply in the city apart from giving it an aesthetic look and ensuring safety.