IASbaba Press Information Bureau 22nd July to

4th August, 2018

ARCHIVES

GS-2

Launch of National Viral Hepatitis Control Program

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

Goal: Ending viral hepatitis as a public health threat by 2030 in the country

Aim of the initiative: To reduce morbidity and mortality due to viral hepatitis

Key strategies include:

• Preventive and promotive interventions with focus on awareness generation
• Safe injection practices and socio-cultural practices
• Sanitation and hygiene
• Safe drinking water supply
• Infection control and immunization
• Co-ordination and collaboration with different Ministries and departments
• Increasing access to testing and management of viral hepatitis
• Promoting diagnosis and providing treatment support for patients of hepatitis B &C through standardized testing and management protocols with focus on treatment of hepatitis B and C
• Building capacities at national, state, district levels and sub-district level up to Primary Health Centres (PHC) and health and wellness centres such that the program can be scaled up till the lowest level of the healthcare facility in a phased manner

Launch of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0

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

Flagship programme of: Ministry of HRD

Aims:

• To link the Higher Education Institutions with set of atleast (5) villages, so that these institutions can contribute to the economic and social betterment of these village communities using their knowledge base
• To create a virtuous cycle between the society and an inclusive university system, with the latter providing knowledge base; practices for emerging livelihoods and to upgrade the capabilities of both the public and private sectors

Inspired by: The vision of transformational change in rural development processes by leveraging knowledge institutions to help build the architecture of an Inclusive India

Objective of the scheme are:

• To engage the faculty and students of Higher Educational Institutions in understanding rural realities
• Identify and select existing innovative technologies, enable customization of technologies, or devise implementation methods for innovative solutions, as required by people
• To allow Higher Educational Institutions to contribute to devising systems for smooth implementation of various Government Programs.

Proposed National Policy for Domestic Workers

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

• Inclusion of Domestic Workers  in the existing legislations
• Registration of Domestic workers
• Right to form their own associations, trade unions
• Right to have minimum wages, access to social security, protection from abuse, harassment, violence
• Right to enhance their professional skills
• Protection of Domestic Workers  from abuse and exploitation
• Domestic Workers to have access to courts, tribunals, etc.
• Establishment of a mechanism for regulation of placement agencies

Cabinet approves

Extension of Concessional Financing Scheme (CFS) to support Indian Entities bidding for strategically important infrastructure projects abroad

• Prior to the introduction of CFS, Indian entities were not able to bid for large projects abroad since the cost of financing was very high for them and bidders from other countries such as China, Japan, Europe and US were able to provide credit at superior terms, i.e., lower interest rate and longer tenures which works to the advantage of bidders from those countries.
• Also, by having projects of strategic interest to India executed by Indian entities, the CFS enables India to generate substantial backward linkage induced jobs, demand for material and machinery in India and also a lot of goodwill for India.

Re-structuring of the Agricultural Scientists’ Recruitment Board (ASRB)

• It would support in expediting the recruitment process which would be beneficial for the agrarian community and agriculture at large.
• It will ensure more transparency and efficiency in recruitment of meritorious scientists to various scientific positions in lCAR, the premier agency for agricultural research and education in the country.

Policy Framework for exploration and exploitation of Unconventional Hydrocarbons

• This policy will enable the realization of prospective hydrocarbon reserves in the existing Contract Areas which otherwise would remain unexplored and unexploited.
• With this policy dispensation, new investment in Exploration and Production (E&P) activities and chances of finding new hydrocarbon discoveries and resultant increased domestic production thereof is expected.
• Exploration and exploitation of additional hydrocarbon resources is expected to spur new investment, impetus to economic activities, additional employment generation and thus benefitting various sections of society.
• This will lead to induction of new, innovative and cutting-edge technology and forging new technological collaboration to exploit unconventional hydrocarbons.

National Policy on Biofuels-2018

(Topic:

• Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
• Awareness in the field of bio-technology)

The policy categorizes biofuels as “Basic Biofuels”,i.e., such as bio ethanol & biodiesel and “Advanced Biofuels” such as Second Generation (2G) ethanol, bio-CNG, Third Generation Biofuels, etc. to enable extension of appropriate financial and fiscal incentives under each category.  It also includes promotion of advanced biofuels through various incentives, off-take assurance and viability gap funding.

Objective

• Ensuring adequate and sustained availability of domestic feedstock for biofuel production
• Increasing Farmers Income
• Import Reduction
• Employment Generation
• Waste to Wealth Creation

The Policy

• Allows production of ethanol from damaged food grains like wheat, broken rice etc. which are unfit for human consumption
• Additionally, during an agriculture crop year, when there is projected over supply of food grains as anticipated by the Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, the policy allows conversion of surplus quantities of food grains to ethanol, based on the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee.

Use of damaged food grains and surplus food grains for production of ethanol will increase its availability for Ethanol Blended Petrol (EBP) Programme, resulting in increasing the blending percentage, increasing farmer’s income, saving of foreign exchange and addressing environmental issues.

GS-3

Visakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor

(Topic: Infrastructure: Roads)

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved US $631 million, in loans and grants, for VCIC, comprising a Multi-tranche Financing Facility as follows:

• US $500 million two-tranche MFF to build key infrastructure
• US $125 million two-tranche Policy Based Loan (PBL) to support policy reforms and institutional development in the state
• US $5 million grant from the multi-donor Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund (UCCRTF) to build climate change resilient infrastructure in Visakhapatnam
• US $1 million technical assistance to help the Andhra Pradesh Government implement policy reforms

Four nodes namely: Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Kankipadu-Gannavaram and Yerpedu-Srikalahasti of Andhra Pradesh, have been identified for development in Vishakhapatnam-Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) on the basis of Conceptual Development Plan (CDP) prepared by ADB.

Recommendations of Shekatkar Committee

(Topic:

• Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
• Defence)

For: To enhance combat capability and rebalance defence expenditure

Measures as recommended by the Committee and taken up for implementation include:

• Optimization of Signals Establishments to include Radio Monitoring Companies, Corps Air Support Signal Regiments, Air Formation Signal Regiments, Composite Signal Regiments and merger of Corps Operating and Engineering Signal Regiments

• Restructuring of repair echelons in the Army to include Base Workshops, Advance Base Workshops and Static / Station Workshops in the field Army
• Redeployment of Ordnance echelons to include Vehicle Depots, Ordnance Depots and Central Ordnance Depots apart from streamlining inventory control mechanisms.
• Better utilization of Supply and Transportation echelons and Animal Transport Units.
• Closure of Military Farms and Army Postal Establishments in peace locations
• Enhancement in standards for recruitment of clerical staff and drivers in the Army
• Improving the efficiency of the National Cadet Corps

Please Note:

‘Yobin’ community: State of Arunachal Pradesh

The Committee to Draft National Education Policy: Constituted under Dr. K. Kasturirangan to prepare the Draft National Education Policy

IRNSS-1A: Provide messaging services like disaster alerts and other societal applications

Reusable Launch Vehicle: India became the fifth nation to successfully conduct the flight demonstration of a scaled down version of a winged-body reusable launch vehicle, thereby validating the critical technologies such as autonomous navigation, guidance & control, reusable thermal protection system and re-entry mission management. This flight represented the first baby step towards the realisation of a future fully reusable Two Stage To Orbit (TSTO) space transportation system.

Making of Green Propellant: ISRO is developing green propellants for use in future rocket & satellite propulsion systems

• To minimise environmental impact while improving overall efficiency and economy
• ISRO has made a beginning by developing an eco-friendly solid propellant based on Glycidyl Azide Polymer (GAP) as fuel and Ammonium Di-Nitramide (ADN) as oxidizer at the laboratory level, which will eliminate the emission of chlorinated exhaust products from rocket motors
• ISRO is also carrying out various technology demonstration projects involving green propellant combinations such as Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2), Kerosene, Liquid Oxygen (LOX), Liquid Methane, ADN-Methanol-water, ADN-Glycerol-water etc.

‘Police’ and ‘Public Order’: State subjects

• State Governments are responsible for controlling crime, maintaining law and order, and protecting the life and property of the citizens.
• They are empowered to enact and enforce laws to curb crime in their jurisdiction.

KHELO INDIA launches unique programme to nurture sporting talent: 734 youngsters shortlisted for complete scholarship under the KHELO INDIA TALENT DEVELOPMENT Scheme

National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM): Digitized 283 lakh pages of 2.96 lakh manuscripts

• Launched by the Ministry of Culture for documentation, conservation, preservation and digitization of manuscripts
• To establish a Digital Manuscripts Repository at IGNCA in which researchers and scholars can view and consult the manuscripts to understand our past in its totality.

‘Study in India’:

• To make India an education hub for foreign students
• Improve the soft power of India with focus on the neighbouring countries and use it as a tool in diplomacy
• To rapidly increase the inflow of inbound International Students in India through a systematic brand-building, marketing, social media and digital marketing campaigns
• To increase India’s market share of global education exports
• Improvement in overall quality of higher education
• To reduce the export-import imbalance in the number of international students
• Growth in India’s global market share of International students
• Increase in global ranking of India etc.             

e-pathshala:

• Developed by NCERT (National Council for Educational Research and Training)
• For showcasing and disseminating all educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals and a variety of other print and non-print materials.

SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active learning for Young Aspiring Minds):

• A Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) platform
• The portal is offering various online courses for school education and higher education

SWAYAM PRABHA: A programme for utilization of satellite communication technologies for transmission of educational e-contents through 32 National Channels i.e. SWAYAM PRABHA DTH-TV

SARANSH: Tool for comprehensive self-review and analysis for CBSE affiliated schools and parents.

• Enables them to analyse students’ performance in order to take remedial measures
• SARANSH brings schools, teachers and parents closer, so that they can monitor the progress of students and help them improve their performance.

Samagra Siksha: To treat school education holistically without segmentation from pre-school to Class XII

• To ensure inclusive and equitable quality education at all levels of school education
• It envisages the ‘school’ as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to senior secondary levels.

Innovate India Platform: Collaboration between the Atal Innovation Mission and MyGov, a citizen centric platform of the Government of India. The #InnovateIndia portal will serve as the common point for all the innovation happening across the nation.

National Career Service (NCS) Project: A plan scheme for transformation of the National Employment Service to provide a variety of employment related services like job matching, career counselling, vocational guidance, information on skill development courses, etc.

Mission Satyanishtha: Program on Ethics in Public Governance by Indian Railways

Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA): By the Ministry of Human Resource Development with the aim of promoting access, equity and quality, central assistance to States for creation of one Model Degree College each in 60 Educationally Backward Districts (EBDs)

SAATHI (Sustainable and Accelerated Adoption of efficient Textile technologies to Help Small Industries): To sustain and accelerate the adoption of energy efficient textile technologies in the powerloom sector and cost savings due to use of such technology

Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY): For sustainable management of ground water

New Nuclear Power Plants

Nuclear Power Reactors under Construction:

Nuclear Power Reactors accorded administrative approval and financial sanction:

Sites accorded ‘in principle’ approval for setting up more reactors in future:

*Nominal Capacity 

The names of the countries with whom negotiations have been held for the supply of fuel for the Atomic Power Plants are Russia, Kazakhstan, Canada, Uzbekistan, France and Australia.

Quotes:

Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu

On Culture

• Culture is a way of life and Religion is a way of worship.
• One should remember five things in their life – Mother, Mother tongue, Birth place, Motherland and Teacher who gave knowledge.

On Information Technology

• It must focus on Agri-Business and Agri-Markets
• Upgradation of skills and innovative new skills are needed
• Urban-rural divide must be bridged
• The only way to stay on top of the tech wave is to constantly innovate and develop new technologies and solve business problems in multiple verticals using these newer technologies. This requires regular upgradation of skills.

On Insurance Industry

• Insurance Industry must play a pivotal role in India’s growth story by offering innovative risk covers, policies and schemes.
• The overall insurance penetration reached only 3.69 per cent in 2017. The Insurance Industry that is projected to grow to US $ 280 billion by 2020 must take the responsibility and make India fully insured.
• Insurers must develop products that are effective and efficient on both covers and the claims
• Asked the insurance companies to leverage demographic dividend to impart employable skills to the youth. Long-term and constant skill development and enhancement is imperative for India so that it can keep up with the best in the world