PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 6-MARCH-2018
Topic: Welfare
schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and
the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and bodies
constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
POSHAN Abhiyaan
Context: The
annual targets set under POSHAN Abhiyaan beginning 2017-18 are as under:
Targets:
§ Prevent
and reduce stunting in children (0-6years): By 6% @ 2% p.a.
§ Prevent
and reduce under-nutrition (underweight prevalence) in children (0-6 years): By
6% @ 2% p.a.
§ Reduce the
prevalence of anemia among young Children(6-59 months): By 9% @ 3% p.a.
§ Reduce the
prevalence of anemia among Women and Adolescent Girls in the age group of 15-49
years: By 9% @ 3% p.a.
§ Reduce Low
Birth Weight (LBW): By 6% @ 2% p.a.
About POSHAN Abhiyaan:
POSHAN
Abhiyaan was launched on
International Women’s day (March 8) in
2018 to boost nutrition among children and women.
§ The
Abhiyaan targets to reduce
stunting, under-nutrition, anemia (among young children, women and adolescent
girls) and reduce low birth weight by
2%, 2%, 3% and 2% per annum respectively.
§ The target
of the mission is to bring down stunting among children in the age group 0-6
years from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: POSHAN Abhiyaan and targets under the scheme.
§ For Mains:
Schemes for the welfare of weaker sections of the society.
Sources:
pib.
Topic: Important
International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate.
International Energy Forum
Context: India
is hosting the 16thInternational Energy Forum (IEF) Ministerial Meeting in New
Delhi.
About the IEF Ministerial meeting:
§ The IEF
Ministerial meetings are informal dialogues, at both the political and
technical levels, aimed to improve policy and investment decisions, and through
increased knowledge and experience sharing.
§ The biennial IEF Ministerial Meetings are the
world’s largest gathering of Energy Ministers who
engage in a dialogue on global energy issues.
About IEF:
The
International Energy Forum (IEF) is an inter-governmental arrangement set
up in 1991. It is based in Riyadh.
Functions: It
serves as a neutral facilitator of informal, open, informed and continuing
global energy dialogue among its members comprising of energy producing and
energy consuming states, including transit countries.
Members: There
are 72 membercountries of IEF, including India, covering all six continents,
which are signatories to the Charter of the IEF. Its membership accounts for
90% of global supply and demand for oil and gas.
Executive board:
§ The
Executive Board (EB) set up in 2002 comprising of 31 designated representatives
of Ministers of the member states comprise the governing board of IEF.
§ It meets
twice a year.
§ International
Energy Agency (IEA) and Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) are non-voting members of the Executive Board.
§ The EB is
chaired by the Host State of the next biennial Ministerial Meeting. Currently,
India is the Chair of the Executive Board of IEF.
Key facts for Prelims:
§ By virtue
of being among the top 11 largest consumers of oil and gas (India is presently
4th), India has been the Permanent Member of the Executive Board since its
set-up in 2002.
§ India had
earlier hosted the 5th IEF Ministerial in 1996 at Goa.
Need for international platforms:
Energy
security continues to top the political agenda for energy importing as well as
exporting countries, for industrialized as well as developing economies. This
time of heightened energy consciousness is also a time of uncertainties and
increasing interdependencies among nations.
This has
prompted some to re-think fundamental policies. And the policy tuning of one
country to meet new challenges and to reduce its particular energy
uncertainties can in itself exacerbate uncertainties or create new ones for
others. Not least considering the interrelationship between energy, environment
and economic development. As well as the links between energy and geopolitics.
Global producer-consumer dialogue acquires increasing importance as nations
revisit and modify established policies, and shape new ones, in their quest for
energy security.
Way ahead:
The world
will need more and cleaner energy, used in a more efficient way, accessible and
affordable to a larger share of the world’s population. The political challenge
lies in operationalizing this energy imperative in a fair and sustainable way.
Through national policies as well as in bilateral, regional and wider global
co-operation.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: IEF, ministerial meeting.
§ For Mains:
Energy security and the need for international cooperation.
Sources:
pib.
Paper 3:
Topic:
Infrastructure- airways.
UDAN – RCS
Context: Pathankot
gets Operationalized as the 21st airport under UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) –
RCS (Regional Connectivity Scheme).
About UDAN:
Udan is a
market-based policy intervention that builds on similar programmes in the US,
Canada and Australia. It is also consistent with universal service approaches
established for other network-based services such as railways and telecom.
§ The
objective of the Scheme is to make flying affordable for the masses, to promote
tourism, increase employment and promote balanced regional growth. It also
intends to put life into un-served and under-served airports.
§ It offers viability gap funding to operators
to fly smaller aircraft to such airports with a commitment to price tickets for
at least half of the seats at ₹2,500 for an hour-long flight.
Need for schemes like Udan:
§ There are
as many as 398 “unserved” airports which have no commercial flights and 18
“under-served” airports host less than seven flights per week.
§ Besides, a
major reason for the poor regional air connectivity in India is that airlines
do not find it lucrative to operate from small cities. The government has tried
to address this concern by an adroit combination of subsidies and fare caps.
Significance of the scheme:
Providing
regional air connectivity is an important policy goal for the government. Such
services deliver a host of benefits by fulfilling latent consumer demand for
convenient travel, making businesses and trade more efficient, unlocking
India’s tourism potential, enabling fast medical service and promoting national
integration.
Moreover,
building connections to tier-2 and tier-3 cities also generates powerful network
effects with many regional passengers transferring on to the national aviation
network between tier-1cities. The Udan (Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik) programme is
designed to jump start the regional aviation market by improving the
profitability of under-developed regional routes. It will strengthen the
overall aviation network at a modest market-discovered price.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: UDAN.
§ For Mains:
Need for regional integration- challenges and solutions.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Infrastructure.
National Investment and Infrastructure Fund
(NIIF)
Context: The
government’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) is in talks
with private equity firm Everstone Group for a tie-up to manage its Green
Growth Equity Fund (GGEF).
About GGEF:
§ The Green
Growth Equity Fund will be the second investment platform to be set up by NIIF.
§ GGEF,
which will invest in renewable energy assets, is a joint venture between NIIF
and the UK government.
§ GGEF would be managed by a third-party
investment manager, selected by NIIF Limited and the UK government through
an efficient and robust screening and selection process.
About NIIF:
§ NIIF was
set up in 2015 as an investment vehicle for funding commercially viable
greenfield, brownfield and stalled projects in the infrastructure sector.
§ NIIF will
invest in areas such as energy, transportation, housing, water, waste
management and other infrastructure-related sectors in India.
§ The corpus
of the fund is proposed to be around Rs40,000 crore, with the government
investing 49% and the rest to be raised from third-party investors such as
sovereign wealth funds, insurance and pension funds, endowments etc.
§ NIIF’s
strategy includes anchoring equity, quasi-equity and debt funds in partnership
with investors targeting investments across the relevant sectors in India.
What’s important?
For
Prelims and Mains: NIIF and its significance.
Sources:
the hindu.
Topic: IPR
related issues.
BIS Act 2016
Context: A
Parliamentary Consultative Committee recently reviewed the activities of Bureau
of Indian Standards (BIS) and laid emphasis on easy redressal mechanism of
complaints, mandatory certification, enhancing consumer confidence through
publicity and various other interactive measures. It also stressed on the
effective implementation of the provisions of new BIS Act 2016.
BIS Act 2016:
Bureau of
Indian standards (BIS) Act 2016 which was notified on 22nd March, 2016, came
into force with effect from 12th October, 2017. Parliament had in March 2016
passed the law to replace the BIS Act of 1986.
Highlights of the act:
National standards body: The
Act establishes the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) as the National Standards
Body of India.
Compulsory certification: The
Act has enabling provisions for the Government to bring under compulsory
certification regime any goods or article of any scheduled industry, process,
system or service which it considers necessary in the public interest or for
the protection of human, animal or plant health, safety of the environment, or
prevention of unfair trade practices, or national security.
Hallmarking: Enabling
provisions have also been made for making hallmarking of the precious metal
articles mandatory.
Simplified conformity: The
new Act also allows multiple type of simplified conformity assessment schemes
including self-declaration of conformity against a standard which will give
simplified options to manufacturers to adhere to the standards and get
certificate of conformity.
Authority for verification: The
Act enables the Central Government to appoint any authority/agency, in addition
to the BIS, to verify the conformity of products and services to a standard and
issue certificate of conformity.
Repair or recall: There
is also a provision for repair or recall, including product liability of the
products bearing Standard Mark but not conforming to the relevant Indian
Standard.
About BIS:
§ The Bureau
of Indian Standards (BIS) is the national Standards Body of India working
under the aegis of
Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
§ It is
established by the Bureau of
Indian Standards Act, 1986.
§ The Minister in charge of the Ministry or
Department having administrative control of
the BIS is the ex-officio President of the BIS.
§ As a
corporate body, it has 25 members drawn from Central or State Governments,
industry, scientific and research institutions, and consumer organisations.
§ It also works as WTO-TBT enquiry point for
India.
What’s
important?
For
Prelims: BIS, BIS Act.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Awareness in the fields of IT.
RBI bars banks from dealing with virtual
currencies
Context: The
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to stop providing service to any
entity dealing with virtual currencies, with immediate effect. It has also
asked regulated entities that are already providing such services to exit the
relationship within three months.
Background:
Widely
seen as a disruption for the traditional banking and financial institutions,
cryptocurrencies have gained significant traction over the last half a decade,
at the same time creating a regulatory nightmare for banking regulators across
the globe. At present, there are around 969 cryptocurrencies in existence
across the globe, with a total market capitalisation close to 116 Billion USD.
What are virtual/ cryptocurrencies?
Founded as
a peer-to-peer electronic payment system, cryptocurrencies enable transfer of
money between parties, without going through a banking system. These digital
payment systems are based on cryptographic proof of the chain of transactions,
deriving their name, Cryptocurrency. These employ cryptographic algorithms and
functions to ensure anonymity (privacy) of the users (who are identified by an
alphanumeric public key), security of the transactions and integrity of the
payment systems.
Associated concerns:
§ Despite
numerous advantages and user friendly processes, cryptocurrencies have their
own set of associated risks in the form of volatility in valuation, lack of
liquidity, security and many more.
§ Cryptocurrencies
are being denounced in many countries because of their use in grey and black
markets. There are two sets of interconnected risks; one being to the growth
and expansion of these platforms in the uncertain policy environment, and the
other being the risks these platforms pose to the users and the security of the
state.
§ They also
have the potential use for Illicit Trade and Criminal Activities and can be
used for Terror Financing.
§ They also
have the Potential for Tax Evasion.
Regulation of these currencies:
The
acceptability of cryptocurrencies as a legal instrument currently varies from
country to country; while some are in the process of formulating laws and
measures, others are yet to respond to this disruptive change. The burgeoning
use of cryptocurrencies in terror financing, ransomwares, illicit drugs or arms
trade and cybercrime has also raised red flags among the security and law
enforcement agencies. They may well have the potential to displace the existing
financial systems which enable electronic flow of money across different
political boundaries.
Sources:
the hindu.
Facts for Prelims:
Samta Diwas:
§ What is
it? Samta Diwas is the celebration of birth anniversary of nationalist
politician Babu Jagjivan Ram.
§ When is
it? It is celebrated on April 5. 2018 marks his 111th birth
anniversary.
§ Significance
of the day: The day emphasizes on bringing about equality among all spheres of
the society.
§ About Babu
Jagjivan Ram: His beliefs were of great significance in the past era as there
was predominance of multi layered society. He focused on the harsh rules of the
society and pressed for the abolishment of this society. His 50 years as a MP
is a world record. He took part in India’s independence struggle and was
founder member of the All India Depressed Classes League, an organisation
dedicated to attaining equality for untouchables. He had also led the rural
labour movement.
UTTAM APP for Coal Quality Monitoring:
Context:
The government has launched UTTAM App for Coal Quality Monitoring.
Key facts:
§ UTTAM
stands for – Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal.
§ The
Ministry of Coal and Coal India Limited (CIL) has developed the App.
§ It aims to
provide an App for all citizens and coal consumers to monitor the process of
Third Party Sampling of coal across CIL subsidiaries.
§ UTTAM App
ensures accountability, transparency, effectiveness and efficiency in coal
ecosystem. It provides a platform for monitoring of sampling and coal
dispatches.
National Maritime Day:
§ Context:
April 5 is celebrated as the National Maritime Day in India every year.
§ Why April
5? It was on this day 99 years ago in 1919 when the country’s navigation
history set sail with SS Loyalty, the first ship of the Scindia Steam
Navigation Company Ltd started for the United Kingdom from Mumbai (then British
Bombay).
§ Theme: In
2018, the theme of the occasion is ‘Indian Shipping – An Ocean of opportunity’.
§ Varuna
award: An award called Varuna is conferred to those who have made an
outstanding contribution to the Indian maritime sector on this day.
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