PERIYAR IAS CURRENT AFFAIRS 15-MAY-2018
Topic: Women related issues.
Bharosa
Context: Aimed
at empowering vulnerable and marginalised women by imparting skills training,
the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will soon set up a skill
development centre at ‘Bharosa,’ an integrated support centre for distressed
women and children in Hyderabad.
Bharosa:
§ ‘Bharosa,’
an initiative of Hyderabad City Police, is a state-of-the-art centre to support
women and children who are victims of violence. Since its inception in 2016, a
total of 3,560 victims have approached ‘Bharosa’ centre with a range of
problems.
§ ‘Bharosa’
provides under one roof, 24X7 services related to police, medical, legal,
prosecution, psycho-therapeutic counselling and relief and rehabilitation
services in completely private counselling rooms to maintain confidentiality
and privacy.
§ The centre
is equipped with well-trained staff and modern gadgets, including facilities
like video conferencing, so that the victims need not go to the court.
About UNDP:
§ Headquartered
in New York City, UNDP advocates for change and connects countries to
knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.
§ The status
of UNDP is that of an executive board within the United Nations General
Assembly.
§ The UNDP
Administrator is the third highest-ranking official of the United Nations after
the United Nations Secretary-General and Deputy Secretary-General.
§ The UNDP
Human Development Report Office also publishes an annual Human Development
Report.
Important functions:
§ It
provides expert advice, training and grants support to developing countries,
with increasing emphasis on assistance to the least developed countries. It
promotes technical and investment cooperation among nations.
§ To
accomplish the SDGs and encourage global development, UNDP focuses on poverty
reduction, HIV/AIDS, democratic governance, energy and environment, social
development, and crisis prevention and recovery.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: Bharosa, UNDP and SDGs.
§ For Mains:
Use of IT for the protection of women and significance of SDGs.
Sources:
the hindu.
Paper 2:
Topic: Welfare
schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and
the performance of these schemes.
‘Samarth’
Context: A
meeting of stakeholders on Samarth – Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile
Sector under the Skill India Mission was recently held in New Delhi to
familiarize the stakeholders about the scheme and its guidelines. The meeting
was chaired by Union Minister of Textiles, Smt Smriti Zubin Irani.
About Samarth scheme:
§ The broad
objective of the scheme is to skill the youth for gainful and sustainable
employment in the textile sector covering the entire value chain of textiles,
excluding spinning and weaving.
§ The scheme
is intended to provide demand driven, placement oriented National Skills
Qualifications Framework (NSQF) compliant skilling programmes to incentivize
and supplement the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the textiles
sectors.
§ The scheme
targets to train 10 lakh persons (9 lakh in organised and 1 lakh in traditional
sector) over a period of 3 years (2017-20), with an outlay of Rs. 1300 crore.
NSQF:
§ National
Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) organizes qualifications according to a
series of levels of knowledge, skills and aptitude. These levels are defined in
terms of learning outcomes which the learner must possess regardless of whether
they were acquired through formal, non-formal or informal learning.
§ There are
10 levels in the framework, with the entry level being 1, and the highest level
being 10. This will enable a person to acquire desired competency levels,
transit to the job market and, at an opportune time, return for acquiring
additional skills to further upgrade competencies.
§ The
framework would be anchored and operationalized by the National Skill
Development Agency (NSDA), an autonomous body attached to the Ministry of
Finance, mandated to coordinate and harmonize skill development efforts of the
Government of India and the private sector.
Significance of NSQF:
§ The NSQF
would also help shift emphasis to outcome based learning – both in the general
and vocational space.
§ NSQF will
also facilitate Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) that is largely lacking in
the present education and training scenario. Additionally, it would help
alignment of Indian qualifications to international qualifications.
§ The credit
accumulation and transfer system that will be integrated in the NSQF will allow
people to move between education, vocational training and work at different
stages in their lives according to their needs and convenience.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: Samarth and NSQF.
§ For Mains:
Capacity building in textile sector.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Development processes and the development industry the role of NGOs, SHGs,
various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other
stakeholders.
Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) Programme
Context: Abu
Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) has shipped the first oil cargo for India’s
strategic petroleum reserve at Mangalore.
Background:
§ Indian
Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) had then signed an agreement with
ADNOC which allows the firm to store 5.86 million barrels of crude in the
strategic facility at Mangalore at its own cost.
§ India can
use the entire available crude oil stored by ADNOC in the Mangalore facility
during an emergency situation. The Agreement with ISPRL also allows ADNOC to
sell part of the crude oil to Indian refineries on commercial basis while
adhering to mutually agreed minimum crude storage which is for the exclusive
use of the Indian government.
About SPR programme:
§ To ensure
energy security, the Government of India had decided to set up 5 million metric
tons (MMT) of strategic crude oil storages at three locations namely,
Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur (near Udupi). These strategic storages would
be in addition to the existing storages of crude oil and petroleum products
with the oil companies and would serve as a cushion during any external supply
disruptions.
§ In the
2017-18 budget, it was announced that two more such caverns will be set up
Chandikhole in Jajpur district of Odisha and Bikaner in Rajasthan as part of
the second phase.
§ The
construction of the Strategic Crude Oil Storage facilities is being managed by
Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL), a Special Purpose Vehicle,
which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oil Industry Development Board (OIDB)
under the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.
Need for strategic oil reserves:
§ In 1990,
as the Gulf war engulfed West Asia, India was in the throes of a major energy
crisis. By all accounts India’s oil reserves at the time were adequate for only
three days. While India managed to avert the crisis then, the threat of energy
disruption continues to present a real danger even today.
§ It is
unlikely that India’s energy needs will dramatically move away from fossil
fuels in the near future. Over 80% of these fuels come from imports, a majority
of which is sourced from West Asia. This is a major strategic risk and poses a
massive financial drain for an embattled economy and its growing current
account deficit.
§ To address
energy insecurity, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government mooted the concept of
strategic petroleum reserves in 1998. Today, with India consuming upwards of
four million barrels of crude every day (January 2015 figures), the case for
creating such reserves grows stronger.
Facts for Prelims:
In January
2016, India signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates that allows the Gulf
OPEC country to fill half of the underground crude oil storage facility of
ISPRL at Mangalore. Therefore, the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company will
store about 6 million barrels of oil at Mangalore.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: India’s strategic oil reserves- locations, ISPRL.
§ For Mains:
Energy security, need for SPR.
Sources:
pib.
Topic: Issues
relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to
Health.
Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana
Context: The
Centre has signed MoU with four States – Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu &
Kashmir, Uttarakhand and Union Territory of Chandigarh for implementing
Ayushman Bharat.
Highlights of the scheme:
It will subsume the on-going centrally
sponsored schemes -Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY)
and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).
Coverage: The
scheme has the benefit cover of Rs. 5 lakh per family per year. To ensure that
nobody is left out (especially women, children and elderly) there will be no
cap on family size and age in the scheme. The benefit cover will also include
pre and post-hospitalisation expenses.
Target: The
target beneficiaries of the proposed scheme will be more than 10 crore families
belonging to poor and vulnerable population based on SECC database. Benefits of
the scheme are portable across the country and a beneficiary covered under the
scheme will be allowed to take cashless benefits from any public/private
empanelled hospitals across the country.
Role of state governments: State
Governments will be allowed to expand AB-NHPM both horizontally and vertically.
States will be free to choose the modalities for implementation. They can
implement through insurance company or directly through Trust/ Society or a
mixed model.
Council: For
giving policy directions and fostering coordination between Centre and States,
it is proposed to set up Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission
Council (AB-NHPMC) at apex level Chaired by Union Health and Family Welfare
Minister.
Who is eligible?
§ It will be
an entitlement based scheme with entitlement decided on the basis of
deprivation criteria in the SECC database.
§ The
different categories in rural area include families having only one room with
kucha walls and kucharoof; families having no adult member between age 16 to
59; female headed households with no adult male member between age 16 to 59;
disabled member and no able bodied adult member in the family; SC/ST
households; and landless households deriving major part of their income from
manual casual labour.
§ Also,
automatically included families in rural areas having any one of the following:
households without shelter, destitute, living on alms, manual scavenger
families, primitive tribal groups, legally released bonded labour. For urban
areas, 11 defined occupational categories are entitled under the scheme.
Implementation Strategy:
At the
national level to manage, an Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission
Agency (AB-NHPMA) would be put in place. States/ UTs would be advised to
implement the scheme by a dedicated entity called State Health Agency (SHA).
They can either use an existing Trust/ Society/ Not for Profit Company/ State
Nodal Agency (SNA) or set up a new entity to implement the scheme. States/ UTs
can decide to implement the scheme through an insurance company or directly
through the Trust/ Society or use an integrated model.
Benefits of the scheme:
This will
lead to increased access to quality health and medication. In addition, the
unmet needs of the population which remained hidden due to lack of financial
resources will be catered to. This will lead to timely treatments, improvements
in health outcomes, patient satisfaction, improvement in productivity and
efficiency, job creation thus leading to improvement in quality of life.
Way ahead:
The
scheme, if implemented properly could be a game changer by enhancing access to
health care including early detection and treatment services by a large section
of society who otherwise could not afford them. The identification of
beneficiaries can be done by linking with Aadhar and similarly following up for
services received and health outcomes achieved, thereby helping to monitor and
evaluate the impact of the programme.
Ultimately,
the scheme could help country move towards universal health coverage and
equitable access to healthcare which is one of the UN Sustainable Development
Goals or SDGs.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: Ayushman Bharat- Particulars of the scheme.
§ For Mains:
Need for universal health coverage.
Sources:
pib.
Paper 3:
Topic: Economic
of animal rearing.
Frozen Semen Station
Context: Frozen
Semen Station is being set up in Maranga, Purnea in Bihar under the
RashtriyaGokul Mission with 100% contribution from the Central Government.
Key facts:
§ The frozen
semen station in Purnea will be the first state-of-the-art semen production
center of the country.
§ The center
will develop highly modern bull shade, semen processing lab, feed and godown,
agricultural equipment, and other facilities.
About Rashtriya Gokul Mission:
To
conserve and develop indigenous bovine breeds, government has launched
‘Rashtriya Gokul Mission’ under the National Programme for Bovine Breeding and
Dairy Development (NPBBD).
The Mission is being implemented with the
objectives to: a) development and conservation of
indigenous breeds b) undertake breed improvement programme for indigenous
cattle breeds so as to improve the genetic makeup and increase the stock; c)
enhance milk production and productivity; d) upgrade nondescript cattle using
elite indigenous breeds like Gir, Sahiwal, Rathi, Deoni, Tharparkar, Red Sindhi
and e) distribute disease free high genetic merit bulls for natural service.
Implementation:
Rashtriya
Gokul Mission will be implemented through the “State Implementing Agency (SIA
viz Livestock Development Boards). State Gauseva Ayogs will be given the
mandate to sponsor proposals to the SIA’s (LDB’s) and monitor implementation of
the sponsored proposal. All Agencies having a role in indigenous cattle
development will be the “Participating Agencies” like CFSPTI, CCBFs, ICAR,
Universities, Colleges, NGO’s, Cooperative Societies and Gaushalas with best
germplasm.
Gokul Gram:
Funds
under the scheme will be allocated for the establishment of Integrated
Indigenous Cattle Centres viz “Gokul Gram”.
§ Gokul
Grams will be established in: i) the native breeding tracts and ii) near
metropolitan cities for housing the urban cattle.
§ Gokul Gram
will act as Centres for development of Indigenous Breeds and a dependable
source for supply of high genetic breeding stock to the farmers in the breeding
tract.
§ The Gokul
Gram will be self sustaining and will generate economic resources from sale of
A2 milk, organic manure, vermi-composting, urine distillates, and production of
electricity from bio gas for in house consumption and sale of animal products.
§ The Gokul
Gram will also function as state of the art in situ training centre for
Farmers, Breeders and MAITRI’s.
§ The Gokul
Gram will maintain milch and unproductive animals in the ratio of 60:40 and
will have the capacity to maintain about 1000 animals. Nutritional requirements
of the animals will be provided in the Gokul Gram through in house fodder
production.
§ Gokul Gram
will also be set up near to metropolitan cities for managing urban cattle.
Metropolitan Gokul Gram will focus on genetic upgradation of urban cattle.
What’s important?
For
Prelims and Mains: Frozen semen station, Rashtriya Gokul Mission and Gokul
gram.
Sources:
pib.
Topic: Energy.
National Wind-solar Hybrid Policy
Context: Ministry
of New and Renewable Energy has issued National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy.
The objective of the policy is
to provide a framework for promotion of large grid connected wind-solar PV
hybrid system for efficient utilization of transmission infrastructure and
land. It also aims at reducing the variability in renewable power generation
and achieving better grid stability.
Highlights of the policy:
§ On
technology front the Policy provides for integration of both the energy sources
i.e. wind and solar at AC as well as DC level. The Policy also provides for
flexibility in share of wind and solar components in hybrid project, subject to
the condition that, rated power capacity of one resource be at least 25 per
cent of the rated power capacity of other resource for it to be recognised
hybrid project.
§ The Policy
seeks to promote new hybrid projects as well as hybridisation of existing
wind/solar projects. The existing wind/solar projects can be hybridised with
higher transmission capacity than the sanctioned one, subject to availability
of margin in the existing transmission capacity.
§ The Policy
provides for procurement of power from a hybrid project on tariff based
transparent bidding process for which Government entities may invite bids.
Policy also permits use of battery storage in the hybrid project for optimising
the output and further reduce the variability. It mandates the regulatory
authorities to formulate necessary standards and regulations for wind-solar
hybrid systems.
Way ahead:
With
significant capacity additions in renewables in recent years and with Hybrid
Policy aiming at better utilisation of resources, it is envisaged that the
Hybrid Policy will open-up a new area for availability of renewable power at
competitive prices along with reduced variability.
Sources:
pib.
Topic:
Conservation of environment.
Green Skill Development Programme (GSPD)
Context: In
its bid to create over five lakh job opportunities by 2021 through green
skills, the government has launched GSPD-ENVIS mobile app to begin enrolments
in 30 expert course under its Green Skill Development Programme (GSPD).
Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP):
§ GSDP is a
recent initiative under the ENVIS scheme for skilling the youth in the country.
It is an initiative for skill development in the environment and forest region
by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEF&CC) to
develop India’s youth into employable and/or self-employment, making use of the
widespread network and experience of ENVIS Hubs/RPs.
§ The Green
Skill Development programme endeavours to develop green skilled workers having
technical knowledge and commitment to sustainable development, which will help
in the attainment of the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs),
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and National Biodiversity Targets(NBT).
What are Green Skills?
Green
skills are those skills required to adapt processes, services and products to
climate change and the environmental rules and necessities related to it. They
embrace the information, abilities, values and attitudes required to live in,
develop and support a sustainable and resource-efficient society. India is the
second most populous country in the world is bestowed with a large working
population.
Why Green Skills?
§ Even
though India has an advantage of reaping this demographic dividend but high
drop-out rates from school coupled with poor vocational skills may hinder in
reaping this dividend. There exists a demand-supply gap of skill sets, both
cognitive and practical, at various levels in the Environment/ Forest fields in
India.
§ Green
skilling is crucial for making a transition from energy and emissions –
intensive economy to cleaner and greener production and service patterns. It
also prepares people for green jobs that contribute to preserving or restoring
the quality of the environment, while improving human well being and social
equity.
§ These
skills are needed in areas like sewer water treatment, Climate resilient
cities, green construction, Solid waste management etc.
What’s important?
§ For
Prelims: Green skills development programme and ENVIS.
§ For Mains:
Significance and the need for green skills.
Sources:
the hindu.
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