1. PEOPLE'S PLAN CAMPAIGN 2021
Union Minister for Panchayati Raj and Rural Development launched People's Plan Campaign 2021- Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas and Vibrant Gram Sabha Dashboard.
About:
- He also released a booklet on People Plan Campaign-2021 for preparation of plans for FY 2022-23 and the 10th issue of Gramoday Sankalp Magazine.
- A Vibrant Gram Sabha Dashboard will help in increasing maximum participation through the meeting of Gram Sabha, Standing Committee meeting of Gram Panchayat, meeting of elected Panchayat public representatives throughout the year.
- Panchayats are the centre points of grassroots democracy. There are 31.65 lakh elected Panchayat representatives across the country in which 14.53 lakh are women.
Source : PIB
2. PANI SAMITIS
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will interact with Gram Panchayats and Pani Samitis/ Village Water and Sanitation Committees (VWSC) on Jal Jeevan Mission on 2nd October, 2021.
About:
- Prime Minister will launch the Jal Jeevan Mission App for improving awareness among stakeholders and for greater transparency and accountability of schemes under the Mission.
- Prime Minister will also launch Rashtriya Jal Jeevan Kosh, where any individual, institution, corporate, or philanthropist, be it in India or abroad, can contribute to help provide tap water connection in every rural household, school, anganwadi centre, ashramshala, and other public institutions.
About Pani Samitis/VWSC
- Pani Samitis play a key role in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of village water supply systems, thereby providing clean tap water to every household on a regular and long-term basis.
- Out of over 6 lakh villages, Pani Samitis/ VWSCs have been constituted in around 3.5 lakh villages. More than 7.1 lakh women have been trained to test the quality of water by using Field Test Kits.
About Jal Jeevan Mission
- On 15th August, 2019, Prime Minister announced the Jal Jeevan Mission to provide clean tap water to every household. At the time of launch of the mission, only 3.23 Crore (17%) rural households had tap water supply.
- As of October 2, 2021, about 8.26 Crore (43%) rural households have tap water supply in their homes. Every rural household in 78 districts, 58 thousand Gram Panchayats and 1.16 lakh villages are getting tap water supply. Till now, tap water supply has been provided in 7.72 lakh (76%) schools and 7.48 lakh (67.5%) anganwadi centres.
- Following ‘bottom up’ approach, Jal Jeevan Mission is implemented in partnership with States with a budget of Rs. 3.60 lakh Crores.
- Further, Rs. 1.42 lakh Crore has been allocated to PRIs as a tied grant under 15th Finance Commission for water and sanitation in villages for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26.
Source : PIB
3. SPECIAL CAMPAIGN ON DISPOSAL OF PENDENCY IN GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
Union Minister of Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions launched a dedicated Portal for Special Campaign on disposal of pendency in Government of India during the period 2nd October to 31st October, 2021.
About:
- The Special Campaign is aimed at ensuring timely and effective disposal of Public Grievances, References from Members of Parliament, State Governments, Inter-Ministerial Consultations and Parliamentary Assurances by each Ministry/Department and its attached/subordinate offices during the campaign period.
- During this special campaign, files of temporary nature may be identified and weeded out as per the extant instructions and redundant scrap material and obsolete items may be discarded to improve cleanliness at work places.
- Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances (DARPG) will be the nodal Ministry to monitor the implementation to this campaign.
- Over 2 lakh cases of pending Public Grievances and 4.5 lac physical files for weeding have been identified for disposal in the campaign. The cleanliness campaign will be undertaken in 2179 campaign sites and 301 rules/ processes have been identified for simplification.
Source : PIB
4. TYPE 1 DIABETICS (T1D)
Good control of not only blood sugar but also blood pressure and cholesterol is essential for survival and a good quality of life among Type 1 diabetics (T1D), according to a pan-India study of long-term survivors with the condition.
About:
- A first-of-its kind report of long-term survivors of T1D from India, a multi-centric study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Diabetes Technology and Therapeutics.
- Comparing survivors for over 40 years with people who did not survive up to 40 years, the researchers found that “survivors had better glycemic and blood pressure control, more favourable lipid profiles and lower prevalence of complications compared to non-survivors”.
- Individuals with T1D have increased morbidity and excess premature mortality compared to those without diabetes and their life expectancy is reduced by an estimated 15-20 years, even with the life-saving insulin to their assistance. However, long-term survival with T1D is possible
- India is home to more than 95,000 children with T1D, reported to be the highest in the world, according to the 9th International Diabetes Federation Atlas.
Source : The Hindu
5. STATE NUTRITION PROFILES
NITI Aayog, in a joint effort with International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Indian Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), UNICEF and Institute of Economic Growth (IEG) launched ‘The State Nutrition Profiles” for 19 States and Union Territories.
About:
- The ‘State Nutrition Profiles’ (SNPs) give insights on nutrition outcomes, immediate and underlying determinants and interventions based on NFHS-rounds 3, 4 and 5.
- The SNPs include a comprehensive compilation of crucial data that can positively affect policy decisions and facilitate research in the area.
Source : PIB
6. INDO-US INDUSTRIAL SECURITY JOINT WORKING GROUP
The Industrial Security Agreement (ISA) summit between India and the United States was held between September 27to October 01, 2021 at New Delhi.
About:
- The summit was organised to develop protocol for the exchange of classified information between the defence industries of both the nations.
- The ISA was signed in December 2019 to facilitate the exchange of classified information between the defence industries of both the countries. It was held to create a roadmap for the implementation of the ISA.
- During the summit, both the sides agreed in-principle to establish the Indo-US Industrial Security Joint Working Group.
- This group will meet periodically to align the policies and procedures expeditiously that will allow the defence industries to collaborate on cutting edge defence technologies
Source : PIB
7. STATE DISASTER RELIEF FUND (SDRF)
The government of India had issued an order on 25.09.2021, revising the items and norms of assistance under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), making therein a provision for grant of ex-gratia payment to the next of kin of the deceased due to Covid-19.
About:
- This enabling provision in SDRF norms has been made so as to implement the guidelines issued by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) on 11.09.2021 in compliance with the order passed by Hon’ble Supreme Court in WPs dated 30.06.2021.
- This step of the Modi Government will facilitate State Governments to have enough funds in their SDRF.
- The State Governments will now have an amount of Rs 23,186.40 crore in their SDRF including State’s share, during the financial year 2021-22, in addition to the amount of opening balance available in their SDRF, to meet the expenses for granting ex-gratia to the next of kin of the deceased due to COVID-19 and for providing relief on other notified calamities.
Source : PIB
8. NATIONAL MISSION FOR CLEAN GANGA (NMCG)
Chacha Chaudhary was declared as the mascot of the Namami Gange Programme at the 37th Executive Committee meeting of the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
About:
- NMCG has tied-up with Diamond Toons to develop and distribute comics, e-comics and animated videos.
- The content will be designed with the objective of bringing about behavioral change amongst children towards Ganga and other rivers.
- The total estimated budget for the project is Rs. 2.26 Cr.
Source : PIB
9. NANO UREA
In the presence of Union Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers, a practical field trial of Drone Spraying of Nano Liquid Urea was conducted in Bhavnagar, Gujarat.
About:
- This demonstration of spraying liquid nano urea by drone was undertaken by IFFCO, a company involved in developing nano urea.
- India has become the first country in the world to start commercial production of Nano Urea. IFFCO started production in June and till has produced more than 5 million bottles of Nano Urea as of now.
Benefits of Liquid Nano Urea
- Liquid Nano Urea has emerged as a powerful alternative to conventional Urea. Increasing use of liquid nano urea will result in economic savings to the farmers, increase productivity and reduce India's dependence on urea imports.
- This will also reduce the subsidy burden on the government and the government will be able to use this savings on other public welfare schemes.
- IFFCO in its study has found that spraying nano urea through drones is more effective on crops and will also have a positive effect on productivity.
Benefits of Drone spraying
- Drones will be able to spray more land in less time. This will save the time of the farmers.
- The cost of spraying will be less. This will result in financial savings to the farmers.
- Along with this, the safety of the sprinklers will also be ensured.
Source : PIB
10. HANUTHANG-HANDANBROKE-ZUNGPAL-TURTUK ROAD
Construction on 05 major road infrastructure development projects was launched by Governor of Ladakh from Turtuk, the northernmost village of India.
About:
- Following the MoU, signed on 03 Sep 2021, between the Ladakh Administration and the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), projects involving construction/improvement of roads and tunnels were assigned to BRO for development of connectivity in the hilly region.
- Construction of road Hanuthang-Handanbroke-Zungpal-Turtuk, the 26.6 Km long greenfield road is planned to provide inter valley connectivity between Hanuthang-Handanbroke (Indus Valley) and Zungpal-Turtuk (Shyok Valley) across the Stakpuchan Range.
- This will also reduce the travel time to Three and Half Hours from existing Nine Hours to Turtuk via Leh without crossing the treacherous Khardungla pass.
- Upgradation of 4 major single lane roads has also commenced.
- These roads are, 78 Km road Khalse to Batallik, 50 Km road Kargil to Dumgil which will also include construction of a tunnel at Hambotingla to ensure seamless connectivity from Kargil to Batallik,70 km road Khalsar to Shyokvia Agham and 31 Km Tangtse to Lukung.
- All these roads are used extensively by travellers to reach sought after tourist destinations such as Hundar (Nubra Valley), Turtuk village, Shyok, Pangon-Tso lake and Aryan villages of Dah, Garkone Darchik etc.
Source : PIB