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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