IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR UPSC PRELIMINARY EXAM ( AUGUST-PART -5)

E-NIVARAN SCHEME:

·         The Union Government initiated a step to launch “e-Nivaran”Scheme to deal with Tax related issues of the public and to respond to them timely on trial mode.

·         Officials of the Central Board of Direct Taxes and the Central board of Indirect Taxes have created a website to examine tax reforms.

VIDYUT PRAVAH & URJA MOBILE APP:

·         URJA- Urban Jyoti Abhiyaan Mobile app intends to enhance consumer connect with the Urban Power Distribution sector by providing information of IT aided towns.

·         Vidyut Pravah App which will allow common people to demand 24X7 power and will take transparency that makes state governments more accountable.

PRADHAN MANTRI SURAKSHIT MATRITVA ABHIYAN OR YOJANA:

·         Under the scheme the pregnant ladies will be given free health check-up and required treatment for free on 9th of every month and will be available across all government hospitals.

·         The scheme is applicable only to the women in their pregnancy period of 3 to 6 months.

·         The doctors will use different colors of stickers on the health cards of the pregnant women (red-risk prone and green risk free).

·         All kinds of medical checkups several tests including blood pressure, sugar level, weight, hemoglobin test, blood test and screening will be completely free.

VIDYALAKSHMI SCHEME – INTEREST FREE LOAN SCHEME FOR IIT STUDENTS:

·         Ministry of HRD has decided to launch a new scheme named as Vidyalakshmi to assist IIT students in getting loans to pay the fee.

·         Under the Vidyalakshmi scheme, the Ministry will help students in getting interest free loans from the banks to pay their fee.

·         The recent fee hike for IIT has proved to be difficult for the students in paying the fee.

·         only the candidates whose family income is less than Rs. 9 Lakh per annum will be eligible for getting loans.

SWAYAM PRABHA – 32 DTH CHANNELS FOR LIVE TELECAST OF LECTURES:

·         The scheme will allow students from across the country to access classroom lectures on theirTV sets. The lectures from different institutions on different subjects will be provided on 32 channels.

·         Every day, there will be new content of at least four hours that would be repeated six times a day, allowing students to choose the time of their convenience.

·         Under the Ministry of HRD, the scheme will have subject experts.

·         The subject experts appointed by the government will be paid on an hourly basis to produce the good quality content.

·         The interactive study content including pictures, videos and diagrams will be delivered by the subject experts appointed by the ministry. students can call on toll free helpline number to cleartheirdoubts.

RIGHT TO LIGHT SCHEME:

·         Under this scheme the school goer students will get solar powered lamps for their study purpose in the evening or night.

·         The program was recently launched inUP post its success in Assam,Bihar,Jharkhand,Odisha.

·         In this program central government and state government have decided to distribute 1 crore lamps to students.

·         The scheme is a brainchild of IIT Bombay .

PRADHAN MANTRI GRAM PARIVAHAN YOJANA:

·         Under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Parivahan Yojana (PMGPY), the central government will provide commercial PV’s to defence personnel and women self-help groups.

·         The scheme will supplement the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana which was launched to improve road conditions in the villages.

·         The government is considering to provide 10-12 seater passenger vehicles at subsidised rates to retired defence personnel and women self-help groups for running on these roads.

PRADHAN MANTRI KAUSHAL VIKAS YOJANA:

·         Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) with an outlay of Rs.12000 crore is the flagship scheme of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE).

·         Objective : to enable a large number of Indian youth to take up industry-relevant skill training.

·         Individuals with prior learning experience or skills will also be assessed and certified under Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL).

·         The target for skilling under the scheme will be associated with Government’s flagship programmes such as Make in India, Digital India, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and National Solar Mission.

·         The skill training will involve soft skills, good work ethics, personal grooming, behavioural change for cleanliness etc. will be undertaken on the basis of demand assessed on the basis of skill gap studies conducted by the NSDC for the period 2013-17.

NIHALI LANGUAGE IN DECLINE:

·         Nihali is a language spoken in Jalgaon Jahod in Maharashtra by close to 2,500 people of the region.

·         It is said to be pre-Aryan and Pre-Munda language.

·         The languages in India can be grouped into Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Tibeto-Burman, Austro- Asiatic or Andaman language families but Nihali is said to be a ‘language isolate’ as it does not belong to any of them.

·         Nihali has been classified by UNESCO as a critically endangered language.

KISAN HARIT RAJMARG YOJANA:

·         It is a pilot scheme to extend green belt beyond the existing ‘Right of Way’ of highways.

·         It seeks to engage farmers and also provide alternative livelihood option to the nearby communities.

SYSTEM OF AEROSOL MONITORING AND RESEARCH (SAMAR):

·         It will help the country in studying concentration of black carbon in atmosphere due to air pollution and its impact on climate.

·         Aerosols are a subset of air pollution that contains gases, fumes and dust in harmful proportion.

·         Aerosols particles can be both solid and liquid which also affects environmental visibility.

·         The SAMAR, equipped with many sophisticated equipments including 12 sky radiometers, will study aerosols' different properties and determine how it impact the climate over a longer period of time.

ADDIS ABABA ACTION AGENDA:

·         It provides a foundation for implementing the global sustainable development agenda.

·         The Conference is the first of three crucial events this year that can set the world on an unprecedented path to a prosperous and sustainable future.

·         United Nations-backed Third International Conference on Financing for Development, the ‘Agenda’ was to outline measures to generate funds to finance the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals, the successor to the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) that expired.

INDIA’S AGASTHYAMALA LISTED AMONG 20 WORLD BIOSPHERE RESERVES:

·         India’s “unique” Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve is among 20 new sites added by the UN’s top cultural body UNESCOto its World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

·         “Located in the Western Ghats, in the south of India, the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve includes peaks reaching 1,868 metres above sea level.

·         It is also a unique genetic reservoir of cultivated plants especially cardamom, jamun, nutmeg, pepper and plantain.

·         Three wildlife sanctuaries, Shendurney, Peppara, Neyyar and Kalakad Mundanthurai Tiger reserve are included in the site.

·         The Agasthyamalai Biosphere Reserve (ABR) was established in 2001 and is spread across the two states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

·         New reserves are designated each year by the International Co-ordinating Council of the UNESCO’s Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, which brings together elected representatives of 34 UNESCO Member States.

·         There are 18 biosphere reserves in India out of which only nine, including the Nilgiris, Nanda Devi, Nokrek, Gulf of Mannar, Sundarbans, and the Great Nicobar, had been included in the network.

·         Biosphere reserves in India protect larger areas of natural habitat and often include one or more National Parks and/or preserves, along with buffer zones that are open to some economic uses.

INDIGENOUSLY DEVELOPED FECAL INCONTINENCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ‘QORA’ LAUNCHED:

·         The Union Government has launched ‘Qora’, an indigenously developed affordable Faecal Incontinence Management System (FIMS).

·         The FIMS-Qora was developed under the Union Ministry of Science & Technology’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) Bio design Programme by M/s. Consure Medical.

·         What is Fecal incontinence?

·         Fecal incontinence (FI) is a medical condition marked by inability to control one’s bowel movements. It causes feces (stool) to leak unexpectedly from the rectum.

·         This medical condition worldwide affects nearly 100 million bed ridden patients. Furthermore, about 50% of the psychiatric ward patients due to long-term neurological diseases have FI.

VENTURE CAPITAL FUND FOR SCHEDULED CASTES:

·         The Venture Capital Fund for Scheduled Castes scheme was launched with an initial capital of 200 crore rupees.

·         Under the scheme, financial assistance of 15 Crore rupees for a period of 6 years will be provided to 30 SC entrepreneurs in a year.

·         The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment launched the Venture Capital Fund Scheme for Scheduled Caste (SC) Entrepreneurs in 2014-2015.

·         IFCI Limited will be the Sponsor, Settler and Asset Management Company or Nodal Agency to operate the scheme.

·         It is a Social Sector initiative to be implemented nationally in order to promote entrepreneurship among the scheduled caste population in India.

·         It will contribute 50 crore rupees which would comprise 5 crore rupees as sponsor and 45 crore rupees as investor.

·         The objectives of the Venture Capital Fund scheme are:

·         To promote entrepreneurship amongst the Scheduled castes who are oriented towards innovation and growth technologies.

·         To provide concessional finance to the Scheduled Caste (SC) entrepreneurs, who will create wealth and value for society and at the same time will promote profitable businesses.

·         To develop SC entrepreneurs economically.

·         To enhance direct and indirect employment generation for SC population in India.

GREEN BUSINESS SCHEME:

·         Under this Scheme, loan for unit cost up to 1 lakh rupees at concessional rate of interest will be provided to Scheduled Castes for activities such as e­rickshaw, Solar Pump and Solar energy powered implements, poly house etc.

·         Green Business Scheme for providing financial assistance has been launched keeping in focus climate change.

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IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS FOR UPSC PRELIMINARY EXAM ( AUGUST-PART -4)

RARE EARTHS:

·         Rare earths are a group of 17 minerals necessary for making everything from nuclear reactors to flat-screen televisions, and, China currently controls 94 per cent of their global supply.

CENTRAL BOARD FOR WORKERS’ EDUCATION RENAMED:

·         The government has renamed Central Board for Workers’ Education as “Dattopant Thengadi National Board for Workers Education and Development”.

‘FAIL-SAFE’ SYSTEM:

·         The government has called for a ‘fail-safe’ system in which passengers and cargo are safe even in case of “failure of any system of the train tracks or controls.”

·         The government said the developer shall be responsible for a third-party inspection of the entire train system.

·         The developer will be given a free-hand in running the train services, fixing schedule, fares and add-on services on board, the EoI document added.

·         The developer will be required to submit the funding plan for the investment along with their audited financial statements for the last five years.

FIRST PHASE OF SAURASHTRA NARMADA AVATARAN FOR IRRIGATION PROJECT:

·         The first phase of SAUNI (Saurastra Narmada Avataran Irrigation) Yojana was recently launched by PM Modi at Sanodara of Jamnagar district of Gujarat.

About the Project:

·         The first phase of the SAUNI project will cover 105 villages, including 47,943 hectares of land.

·         Farmers can reap both Kharif and Rabi crop — as opposed to Kharif crop cultivation so far — once the project makes more water accessible for agriculture.

·         Though the project will not be added to the command area under irrigation, it will strengthen the existing network by providing 1 acre million cubic feet of surplus Narmada water from the Sardar Sarovar Dam through a new pipeline network connecting existing dams.

·         It is a Rs. 12,000 crore project, announced in 2012.

·         It aims to fill up nearly 115 dams of Saurashtra region which faces shortage of water for irrigation and drinking.

·         Through this scheme, the excess overflowing flood water of Narmada river will be distributed to various reservoirs in eleven districts of Saurashtra region through 1,126-km-long four-link pipelines.

MAA– A PROGRAMME TO PROMOTE BREASTFEEDING:

·         Government has launched National Breastfeeding Promotion Programme– MAA (mothers’ absolute affection) to ensure adequate awareness is generated among masses, especially mothers, on the benefits of breastfeeding.

·         The goal of the Programme is to enhance optimal breastfeeding practices, which includes initiation of breastfeeding within an hour of birth, exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, and continued breastfeeding for at least two years.

·         The government will train nurses in government hospitals, Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA), Auxiliary Nurse Mid-wives (ANM) to provide relevant information and counselling support to mothers for breastfeeding.

SOUTH INDIA’S FIRST CHILDREN’S COURT IN HYDERABAD:

·         South India’s first Children’s Court was recently inaugurated in Hyderabad. After Goa and Delhi, Telangana has become the third state to have a child friendly court and sixth in the country with features like separate waiting rooms for children and a video camera trial for the accused, mandated under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act-2012.

·         POCSO stipulates child-friendly court rooms be put in place across all states at the earliest in the interest of children in need of care. However, such courts are currently functional only in two states – Delhi and Goa.

NEW STEPS TO ENHANCE TRANSPARENCY IN POWER SECTOR:

·         In a bid to enhance transparency in power transmission sector of the country, the government has launched the ‘TARANG’ Mobile App, ‘e-Trans’ & ‘DEEP’ e-bidding web portals.

·         These are developed by Rural Electrification Corporation Transmission Projects Company Limited (RECTPCL), a subsidiary of REC Ltd.

·         These measures are aimed at enhancing ease, accountability & transparency and would boost confidence of investors in power transmission sector.

·         Better price discovery shall ultimately benefit the power consumers in India.

BRICS WOMEN PARLIAMENTARIANS’ FORUM ADOPTS JAIPUR DECLARATION:

·         The meeting of women Parliamentarians from BRICS nations concluded recently in Jaipur.

·         During the meeting the parliamentarians expressed commitment to work together in the field of economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection.

JAIPUR DECLARATION:

·         At the end of the meeting, ‘Jaipur Declaration’ was adopted.

·         The Declaration calls upon international financial institutions to extend support to developing and least developed countries and help them gain easier access to new and affordable technologies as envisaged under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.

·         The Declaration mentions the need to address climate change and protection of ecological system and forest as well as food security, expeditious parliamentary approval of SDG related legislation and adequate budgetary resources.

UJALA SCHEME:

·         The main objective of the scheme is to promote efficient lighting, enhance awareness on using efficient equipment which reduce electricity bills and help preserve environment.

·         The scheme is being implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Union Ministry of Power.

·         The scheme will not only help reduce consumers their electricity bills but also contribute to the energy security of India.

·         The scheme is being monitored in a transparent manner through a national dashboard (delp.in).

·         The distribution of LED bulbs will happen through DISCOM offices, DISCOM bill collection centres, designated EESL kiosks, Weekly haat markets, etc.

·         Under UJALA, over 15 crore LED bulbs have already been distributed across India. This is leading to annual energy savings of 1948 crore kWh and resulting in avoidance of 3,900 MW of peak demand. Through the programme the estimated cumulative cost reduction of bills of consumers, annually is INR 7990 crores.

·         Under the Government of India’s Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for all (UJALA) scheme, Gujarat has become the first state to distribute 2 crore LED bulbs.

MISSION BHAGIRATHA:

·         PM Modi recently inaugurated a massive 40,000-crore Telangana state water grid ‘Mission Bhagiratha’.

·         It aims to provide safe drinking water through a pipeline.

·         The objective is to provide 100 liters of clean drinking water per person in rural households and 150 liters per person in urban households.

·         This project aims to provide water to about 25,000 rural habitations and 67 urban habitations.

AMITABH KANT COMMITTEE:

·         It is a committee set up by the government to look at easing the policy regime for e-commerce players, including the rules for foreign direct investment.

·         The terms of reference of the committee would be to examine various issues in e-commerce sector and making recommendations for further liberalisation of the policy.

YAAD KARO KURBANI :

·         It is a 15-day programme aimed to commemorate 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement (QIM) and 70 years of Independence.

·         It was recently launched by PM Modi at birthplace of freedom fighter Chandra Shekhar Azad at Alirajpur, Madhya Pradesh.

·         The campaign is aimed at developing a feeling in every person that nation is first and individual is secondary.

DIAMOND QUADRILATERAL:

·         Six corridors on Diamond Quadrilateral connecting metropolitan cities and growth centers of the country (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai & Kolkata) have been identified for feasibility studies for high speed rail connectivity viz:

(i)           Delhi-Mumbai,

(ii)          Mumbai-Chennai,

(iii)        Chennai-Kolkata,

(iv)         Kolkata-Delhi and both diagonals i.e.

(v)          Delhi-Chennai and

(vi)         Mumbai-Kolkata routes.

·         Feasibility studies are being undertaken through Government to Government cooperation, with China and Spain respectively.

SUGAMAYA PUSTAKALAYA:

·         It is an online library that makes accessible content available to print-disabled people.

·         The library houses publications across diverse subjects and languages and multiple accessible formats.

·         It has been created by Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan), Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in collaboration with member organizations of Daisy Forum of India and powered by TCS Access.

·         Books are available in Accessible formats for people with visual impairment and other print disabilities.

·         Over 2 lakhs books in diverse languages.

·         Integrating libraries across India and the Globe, including the largest international library, Bookshare are available.

UDAIPUR DECLARATION:

·         It was adopted during the recently held two-day meeting of Ministers of Disaster Management of BRICS countries in Udaipur.

·         With this, it has been decided to set up a dedicated Joint Task Force for Disaster Risk Management for regular dialogue, exchange, mutual support and collaboration among BRICS Countries.

OPERATION MUSKAAN-II:

·         It is the second phase of ‘Operation Muskaan,’ a campaign to trace and rescue missing children.

·         It was launched by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. Thousands of children have been rescued under the campaign so far.

ASLI TARAKKI:

·         It is a new campaign for Swachh Bharat Mission launched by the Ministry of Urban Development recently.

·         It is aimed at sanitising six cities of the National Capital Region (NCR).

·         Further, it will be replicated in other States if it succeeds. About 450 young men and women with “communication skills and leadership qualities” have been selected as “lead motivators” to spread awareness on Swachh Bharat Mission.

TOTALIZER MACHINE:

·         Totaliser machine mixes votes from various booths for counting.

·         In the current system votes from each Electronic voting machine are counted separately and hence reveal the voting trends in each polling station.

·         This leaves the voters in that vicinity open to harassment, intimidation and post-election victimisation.

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