IASbaba Press Information Bureau 10th June to 16th June, 2018

ARCHIVES

GS-2

To be launched: Solar Charkha Mission

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

By: Ministry of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME)

• The Mission will cover 50 clusters and every cluster will employ 400 to 2000 artisans
• 15 new state-of-the-art technology centers are being set up all over the country including North-East
• Work being done by the Ministry has promoted Ease-of-Doing-Business with the setting up of 4 portals: ‘MSME Sambandh’, MSME Samadhaan, Udyog Aadhaar and Udyam Sakhi

To be launched: Composite Water Management Index

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

NITI Aayog has come up with the Composite Water Management Index as a useful tool to assess and improve the performance in efficient management of water resources.

• This index is an attempt to inspire States and UTs towards efficient and optimal utilization of water, and recycling thereof with a sense of urgency.
• The index can be utilised to formulate and implement suitable strategies for better management of water resources.

Cabinet approves

Agreement between India and Peru: The agreement aims to establish the basis for a cooperative institutional relationship to encourage and promote technical bilateral cooperation on new and renewable issues on the basis of mutual benefit equality and reciprocity.

Repositioning of North Eastern Council:

• Has approved the proposal of Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) for the nomination of the Union Home Minister as ex-officio Chairman of North Eastern Council (NEC) – a statutory body with Governors and Chief Ministers of all the eight North Eastern States as its Member
• The Cabinet also approved that Minister of State (Independent Charge); Ministry of DoNER would serve as Vice Chairman of the Council.
• Under the new arrangement with Home Minister as Chairman and Minister of DoNER as Vice Chairman, NEC and all the Governors and Chief Ministers of North Eastern States as Member would provide a forum for discussing inter-state matters more comprehensively and also consider common approaches to be taken in future.
• NEC can now also perform the tasks undertaken by the various Zonal Councils to discuss such inter-State issues as drug trafficking, smuggling of arms and ammunition, boundary disputes etc.
• Background: NEC was established under the North Eastern Council Act, 1971 as an apex level body for securing balanced and coordinated development and facilitating coordination with the States.

Proposal for enactment of Dam Safety Bill, 2018: It will help all the States and Union Territories of India to adopt uniform dam safety procedures which shall ensure safety of dams and safeguard benefits from such dams. This shall also help in safeguarding human life, livestock and property.

• The Bill provides for proper surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of all specified dams in the country to ensure their safe functioning.
• The Bill provides for constitution of a National Committee on Dam Safety which shall evolve dam safety policies and recommend necessary regulations as may be required for the purpose.
• The Bill provides for establishment of National Dam Safety Authority as a regulatory body which shall discharge functions to implement the policy, guidelines and standards for dam safety in the country.
• The Bill provides for constitution of a State Committee on Dam Safety by State Government.
• Background: Due to lack of legal and institutional architecture for dam safety in India, dam safety is an issue of concern. Unsafe dams are a hazard and dam break may cause disasters, leading to huge loss of life and property. The Dam Safety Bill, 2018 address all issues concerning dam safety including regular inspection of dams, Emergency Action Plan, comprehensive dam safety review, adequate repair and maintenance funds for dam safety, Instrumentation and Safety Manuals. It lays onus of dam safety on the dam owner and provides for penal provisions for commission and omission of certain acts.

MoU between the ICMR and INSERM, France: The MoU aims at cooperation in areas of common interest within the medical, life sciences and health research fields. Based on scientific excellence on both sides, the parties have agreed to have a specific focus upon:

• Diabetes and Metabolic disorders;
• Bio-ethics with focus on Ethics and regulatory issues of Gene editing techniques;
• Rare diseases

Three Year Action Plan of Agricultural Education Division & ICAR Institutes

• The scheme is aimed to generate quality human resources from the institutions of higher agricultural education.
• It encompasses several new initiatives including, steps to attract talented students, reducing academic inbreeding and addressing faculty shortage.  
• It will also take care of green initiatives, mitigating faculty shortage, international ranking, alumni involvement, promoting innovations, inspired teacher network, reducing inbreeding, academia interface, technology enabled learning, Post-doctoral Fellowships, Agriculture Education Portal, Scientific Social responsibility etc. for quality assurance ranking of the agricultural universities has been linked to the financial support under the scheme along with accreditation.
• Support for strengthening and modernization of infrastructure related to student and faculty amenities and capacity building of both faculty and students in cutting edge areas through Niche Area of Excellence programme will improve teaching and encouraging holistic development of the students.

Please Note:

Exercise SURYA KIRAN-XIII: Joint military training exercise between India & Nepal

India is one of the largest importers and in 2017; it imported nearly 150 Million US Dollar worth Li-Ion batteries.

The auto mobile sector of India is one of the largest in the world and accounts for over 7.1 % of India’s GDP and contributes nearly 22 % of India’s manufacturing GDP.

Faster Adoption Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles in India (FAME)

• Launched in 2015; is proposed to be implemented over a period of 6 years till 2020
• 22 Original Equipment Manufacturers with 80 models are registered for availing demand incentive

Lithium-ion batteries can power any electrical application without the need of physical wires-means wireless. Li-Ion batteries have applications in Energy Storage System –

• From hearing aid to container sized batteries to power a cluster of villages
• Electric Vehicles (2-wheeler, 3-wheeler, 4-wheeler and Bus)
• Portable electronic sector
• Grid Storage
• Telecom and Telecommunication Towers
• Medical Devices
• Household and Office Power Back (UPS)
• Powering Robots in Processing Industry

UTTAM App has been launched for ensuring transparency and efficiency in coal quality monitoring process.

Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India (SHAKTI), for auction and allotment of coal linkages, will lead to affordable power and transparency in allocation of coal.

Maternal Mortality Rate: India has registered a record 22% reduction in MMR since 2013, which is the highest percentage decline so far when compared to all the previous reductions in MMR as per the previous rounds of SRS. India has met the MDG target for MMR of 139/lakh live births by achieving 130 by 2015.

The Quarterly Employment survey (New Series) is an enterprise based survey, carried out with an objective to measure relative change in employment situation over successive quarters for the establishments having 10 or more workers.

India’s First National Rail & Transportation University: Vadodara

Atal Tinkering Labs:

• By NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)
• For nurturing innovation and entrepreneurial spirit among secondary school children across India
• ATLs will soon be established in every district of India, seeking to enable an innovation ecosystem, which will facilitate transformational change in technological innovation and pedagogy.

Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog

• The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the Government of India’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
• AIM is mandated to create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country and revolutionizing the innovation eco-system – touching upon the entire innovation life cycle through various programs.
• The Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) create innovators, Atal Incubation Centres and support to Established Incubation Centre ensure that innovations are taken to the market and help create enterprises around these innovations.

National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd. (NAFED) – to promote co-operative marketing of Agricultural Produce to benefit the farmers.

• Procures pulses, oilseeds and onion from farmers
• Procured 31.91 lakh metric tonnes of pulses and oilseeds in 2017-18 thereby benefitting over 20 lakh farmers; money was directly transferred to farmers’ accounts.

Swajal scheme: Aim to provide villages with piped water supply powered by solar energy. The scheme will train hundreds of rural technicians for operation and maintenance of Swajal units.

Ayushman Bharat – National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM): 20 States sign MoU for implementing the scheme

National Tribal Museum & National Level Tribal Research Institute: Proposed to be set up at Delhi

Host of European Union Film Festival: India – organized by the Directorate of Film Festivals, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, and European Union

Ten new Swachh Iconic Places (SIP) launched under Swachh Bharat Mission

1. Raghavendra Swamy Temple (Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh)
2. Hazardwari Palace (Murshidabad, West Bengal)
3. Brahma Sarovar Temple (Kurukshetra, Haryana)
4. Vidur Kuti (Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh)
5. Mana village (Chamoli, Uttarakhand)
6. Pangong Lake (Leh-Ladakh, J&K)
7. Nagvasuki Temple (Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh)
8. Ima Keithal/market (Imphal, Manipur)
9. Sabarimala Temple (Kerala)
10. Kanvashram (Uttarakhand)

Quotes:

The Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu

Development & Environment

• Development and environment need not be antithetical to each other, but must foster a complementary and symbiotic relationship.
• All scientific endeavors must aim at finding solutions to the problems faced by the society. Science has no meaning if it does not the touch the lives of the people. Scientists and technocrats cannot remain in ivory towers.

Peace & Development

• Both beyond and within the boundaries is crucial for rapid development of our country.
• India believes in resolving differences through negotiations in an atmosphere of trust and good will and added that no problem or issue is beyond solution if the intentions are right.
• Atal Mission will help Arunachal address infrastructure issues relating to water supply, septage management and sewer networks, storm water drains, non-motorised urban transport and open spaces and parks.
• New energy, new resolve, new hope, new approaches and new thinking are driving this change.