02 JUNE 2021 CURRENT AFFAIRS

1.ARMY EDUCATIONAL CORPS (AEC)

Indian Army celebrated the 100th anniversary of the raising of Army Educational Corps (AEC) on 01 June 2021.

About:

• The Army Education Corps of India is a program run by the Indian Army that develops soldiers and officers of all ranks in a variety of disciplines.
• The centre provides education in both combat and non-combat operations.
• The Corps' facilities are located in Pachmarhi, Madhya Pradesh
• History of the AEC dates back to 1921 when the mass scale of illiteracy amongst the Indian soldiers were prevalent. 

Source : PIB

2.PRODUCTION LINKED INCENTIVE (PLI) SCHEME OF PHARMACEUTICALS

Government of India issued Operational guidelines for Production Linked Incentive Scheme of Pharmaceuticals. The scheme is now open to applications from the industry.

About:

• With an aim to enhance India’s manufacturing capabilities by increasing investment and production in the sector and to contribute to product diversification to high value goods in the pharmaceutical sector, Department of Pharmaceuticals notified the 'Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Pharmaceuticals' 3rd March, 2021.
• The approved outlay of the scheme is Rs 15000 crore.
• The applications are invited in three groups based on the Global Manufacturing Revenue of FY 2019-20 of the applicants. A special carve out for MSMEs has been kept under the scheme.
• All the applications will be submitted through an online portal maintained by SIDBI, the Project Management Agency for the scheme.
• The eligible products have been categorized into three categories. The products covered under the scheme are formulations, biopharmaceuticals, active pharmaceutical ingredients, key starting material, drug intermediates, in-vitro diagnostic medical devices, etc.
• The category-1 and category-2 products attract 10% incentive and category-3 products attract 5% incentive on the incremental sales. Incremental sales of a product mean sales of that product in a year over and above the sales of that product in FY 2019-2020. 

Source : The Hindu

3.Government e-Marketplace (GeM)

Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal called upon Government e-Marketplace (GeM), public procurement portal to expand its scope and include more participants in GeM portal for public procurement of both Products & Services.

About:

• GeM is an online market place that was launched in 2016.
• Objective: To ensure that public procurement of goods and services in India (done by government bodies) worth more than Rs. 5 lakh crore annually is carried out through the online platform.
• It has been developed by Directorate General of Supplies and Disposal (DGS&D) with technical support of National E-Governance Division (NEGD), Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. 

Benefits of GeM:

• Transparency: GeM eliminates human interface in vendor registration, order placement and payment processing, to a great extent.
• Efficiency: Direct purchase on GeM can be done in a matter of minutes.
• Secure and safe: GeM is a completely secure platform and all the documents on GeM are e-Signed at various stages by the buyers and sellers.
• Savings to the Government: The transparency, efficiency and ease of use of the GeM portal has resulted in a substantial reduction in prices on GeM. 

Source : PIB

4.DAIRY SECTOR

Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying chaired a virtual program organised on the occasion of World Milk Day. Every year, the first day of June is observed as World Milk Day

Gopal Ratna Awards:

On the occasion, the Minister announced the launch of the National Awards for the Cattle and Dairy sector, the Gopal Ratna Awards.

The award has three categories –

•       Best Dairy farmer,
•       Best Artificial Insemination Technician (AIT) and
•       Best Dairy Cooperative/ Milk producer Company/ FPO.

Eligible farmers/dairy cooperative societies/ AI technicians can apply for award online and portal for award will open from 15th July 2021. Winners for the award will be announced on 31st October 2021.

e-GOPALA app

• He also announced integration of e Gopala App with UMANG platform so that 3.1 Crore users of Umang platform will get access to App.
• e-GOPALA app (Generation of wealth through Productive Livestock), a comprehensive breed improvement marketplace and information portal for direct use of farmers, had been launched by Hon’ble PM on 10th September 2020. 

Milk sector in India

• India is the world’s largest milk producer. India accounts for over one-fifth of the global milk production. This is followed by the US, China, Pakistan and Brazil.
• India produced 198.4 million tonnes of milk during 2019-20.
• Value of output of milk is more than Rs 7.72 lakh crore during 2018-19 at current prices which is more than the value of output of wheat and paddy together.
• Milk Production has grown at an average annual growth rate of 6.3% per year during last 6 years whereas world milk production is growing at the rate of 1.5% per year.
• Percapita availability of milk has increased from 307 grams per person per day in 2013-14 to 406 grams per person per day in 2019-2020 that is y 32.24%.

Source : PIB

5.ONE NATION ONE STANDARD MISSION

RDSO (Research Design & Standards Organization) of Indian Railways has become the FIRST Institution to be declared SDO under "One Nation One Standard" mission of BIS ( Bureau of Indian Standards) which is an Institution under Department of Consumer Affairs

About:

• To attain “ Nation One Standard” vision of Govt. of India, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standards Body, has launched a scheme which provides for “Recognition of SDO”.
• Through this scheme, BIS aims at aggregating and integrating the existing capabilities and dedicated domain specific expertise available with various organizations in the country engaged in standards development in their specific sectors, and enable convergence of all standard development activities in the country resulting in “One National Standard for One Subject”.
• Research Designs & Standards Organization (RDSO), Lucknow, which is the sole R&D Wing of Ministry of Railways, is one of India’s leading Standard formulating Body undertaking standardization work for railway sector.
• RDSO took the initiative to seek recognition as a Standard Developing Organization (SDO) under the BIS SDO Recognition Scheme.

Source : PIB

6.LITORIA MIRA

A species of frog lives in the rainforests of New Guinea that appears to be made from chocolate.

About:

• The cocoa-coloured frogs have turned out to be a new species.
• It is called Litoria mira, inspired by the Latin adjective mirum, which means surprised or strange, stemming from the scientist’s surprise in discovering an undescribed member of the predominately Australian Litoria genus of tree frogs.
• The Litoria mira has a well-known relative — the common green tree frog of Australia called Litoria cerulean. Except for the colour of their skins, the two seem alike — until you study them closely.
• Litoria mira can be distinguished from all other Litoria by its unique combination of moderately large size, webbing on hand, relatively short and robust limbs, and small violet patch of skin on the edge of its eyes.

A link from the past

• The reason that the chocolate frog from New Guinea and the Australian green tree frog are similar is that Australia and New Guinea used to be linked by land for much of the late Tertiary period (2.6 million years ago), and share many biotic elements.
• Today, the island of New Guinea is separated from the ‘horn’ of Queensland by the Torres Strait. New Guinea is dominated by rainforest, and northern Australia by the savannah.

Source : Indian Express

7.K.P. KRISHNAN EXPERT COMMITTEE

Dr. K.P. Krishnan headed expert committee on Variable Capital Company has submitted its report on the feasibility of Variable Capital Companies in the International Financial Services Centres in India to the Chairperson of the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA), Shri. Injeti Srinivas.

About:

• The IFSCA set up this Committee to explore the potential for allowing another legal structure – popularly known as a variable capital company (VCC) – as an additional option through which asset managers could pool the investors’ funds.
• The VCC structure dispenses with some of the key limitations of companies and LLPs and provides for higher regulatory standards than those applicable to trusts.
• The Committee assessed the features of a VCC or its equivalent, in other jurisdictions such as the UK, Singapore, Ireland and Luxembourg. The Committee recommended the adoption of a VCC-like legal structure for the purpose of conducting fund management activity in IFSCs
• The Committee recognized that the legal framework governing entities that undertake fund management should provide for certainty and clarity to investors. 

Source : PIB

8.HEALTH SCHEMES

Union Minister of Health launched the revamped Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) and the Umbrella schemes of Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) and Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant (HMDG) on National Health Authority (NHA)’s IT platform for providing cashless, paperless and citizen-centric services.

Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS):

• The CGHS is a comprehensive Health Scheme for Serving Employees, Pensioners, Members of Parliament, ex-MPs, etc., and their dependent family members.
• During last 7 years it has expanded to 72 Cities with more than 38 lakh beneficiaries are covered under the scheme. Although CGHS started in 1954 in New Delhi, wherein till 2014 only 25 cities were covered.
• CGHS retired pensioners are provided Cashless treatment at empanelled centres which will now be made seamless in the new platform.
• e-referral module developed by NIC has enabled CGHS dispensaries and wellness centres to issue online referral to empanelled hospitals.

Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN)

• Harsh Vardhan informed that under RAN, financial assistance up to Rs 15 lakhs is provided to poor patients suffering from major life-threatening diseases/cancer/rare diseases, for medical treatment at Government hospitals.
• The eligibility criteria to avail services under RAN had been based on State/UT-wise BPL threshold. But getting a state specific BPL certificate from competent authority has remained a time-consuming process.

Health Minister’s Discretionary Grant (HMDG)

• Similarly, under HMDG a maximum amount of Rs.1,25,000/- is provided to patients whose annual income does not exceed Rs.1,25,000/-, to defray a part of the expenditure on hospitalization/treatment in Government Hospitals.
• Beneficiaries can apply for financial assistance under both schemes by providing their Ration card number and undergoing beneficiary verification process at any of the empanelled Govt. hospital.

Source : PIB

9.PRADHAN MANTRI GARIB KALYAN PACKAGE (PMGKP): INSURANCE SCHEME FOR HEALTH WORKERS FIGHTING COVID-19

The Union Government has extended the ‘Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) Insurance Scheme for Health Workers Fighting COVID-19’ for one year w.e.f 24.04.2021

About:

• This will continue to provide the safety net to the dependents of health workers, who are deputed to take care of COVID-19 patients.
• The scheme is being implemented through an Insurance policy from New India Assurance Company (NIACL).
• The scheme was initially launched w.e.f. 30.03.2020 initially for a period of 90 days. The insurance policy has been extended twice so far.
• It aims to provide comprehensive personal accident cover of Rs. 50 lakh to all healthcare providers, including community health workers and private health workers drafted by the government for the care of Covid-19 patients and  for those who may have come in direct contact of COVID-19 patients and were at risk of being impacted by it.

Source : PIB

10.SATAT SCHEME

Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas presided over a virtual ceremony in which a number of initiatives were launched to provide major fillip to the SATAT initiative.

About:

• This included signing of a Cooperation Agreement by Oil and Gas majors including IndianOil, HPCL, BPCL, GAIL and IGL, for the promotion and development of the SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) scheme.
• The SATAT scheme aims to set up Compressed Bio-Gas production plants and make CBG available in the market for use as a green fuel.
• 'SATAT’, launched on 1.10.2018, envisages to target production of 15 MMT of CBG from 5000 plants by 2023.
• Besides the potential to boost availability of more affordable transport fuels, better use of agricultural residue, cattle dung and municipal solid waste, the 5000 CBG plants will provide an investment of 1.75 lakh crore, an additional revenue source to farmers, and 75,000 direct job opportunities and lakhs of indirect jobs.
• The minister also laid the foundation stones of 5 upcoming CBG Plants.
• He also inaugurated the first injection of CBG into the CGD pipeline network at Govardhannathji Energies into Gujarat Gas CGD network at Nadiad Kheda Distt., Gujarat.

Source : PIB

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