GENERAL INFORMATION

Why in News -: “ With this initiative, Government is strongly committed to work towards elimination of viral hepatitis by 2030. ”   This was stated by Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare as he launched the National Viral Hepatitis Control Program to mark the World Hepatitis Day, 2018,  Impact -:  1 -  free drugs and diagnostics for hepatitis B & C. “This initiative will provide laboratory testing and management of viral hepatitis with a de-centralized approach,” 2 - As disease burden is very significant in India, this will help us to find the disease carriers and towards their diagnosis and treatment. “This exemplifies India’s commitment to providing universal health coverage and meeting SDG targets for the country,” Features -:  The aim of the initiative is to reduce morbidity and mortality due to viral hepatitis.  The key strategies include preventive and promotive interventions with focus on  ...

Why in News - :  A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Smt. Shakuntala D. Gamlin, Secretary, DEPwD, M/o Social Justice & Empowerment and Dr. P.S.N. Rao, Director, School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi, today in the presence of senior officers of DEPwD and SPA, Delhi.  The main purpose of the MoU between the DEPwD and SPA Delhi is to conduct verification audit of 10% major railway stations which have been made accessible. Why Railway -:  Railways is an important means of transportation used by the general public.  The DEPwD has been coordinating with Ministry of Railways to make railway platforms, ticket counters, toilets alongwith railway buildings accessible used by the public.  Ministry of Railways has informed the DEPwD that they have made 639 out of 709 major railway stations accessible under AIC. Background -:  Accessible India Campaign (AIC) under the aegis of Department of Empowerment of Persons with Dis...

Relevance GS 4 Ethics and Integrity  About Mission -:  The issue of Ethics, Integrity and probity in public life have been a matter of concern all over the government sector.  In this context it is also extremely important that all railway servants adhere to impeccable conduct and integrity at all times.   “Mission Satyanishtha ” launched on 27 th  July 2018 aims at sensitizing all railway employees about the need to adhere to good ethics and to maintain high standards of integrity at work .  Talks and Lectures on the subject are being organised all over the Indian Railways today for this purpose.    Objective -:  To train every employee to understand the need and value of ethics in Personal and Public life. To deal with ethical dilemmas in life and Public Governance. To help understand the policies of Indian Railways on ethics and integrity and the employee’s role in upholding the same. To develop inner governance...

About -:  Government of India has approved a new scheme namely Mahila Shakti Kendra for implementation during 2017-18 upto 2019-20 to empower rural women through community participation . Cost Sharing -:  The Scheme is implemented with cost sharing ratio of 60:40 between centre and states except for North East and Special Category States where the ratio is 90:10. Features -:  The scheme is envisaged to work at various levels and at the national level (domain based knowledge support) and state level (State Resource Centre for Women) technical support to the respective governments on issues related to women is provided.  Community engagement through College Student Volunteers is envisioned in 115 aspirational districts as part of the Block Level initiatives.  Student volunteers are to play an instrumental role in awareness generation regarding various important government schemes/ programmes as well as social issues.  District Leve...

Findings -:  After consultation on Cyber Crimes in India held on 23.07.2014, National Commission for Women has submitted a report on “Ways and Means to Safeguard Women from Cyber Crimes in India” which inter-alia recommended for stringent law, Policy to discourage hacking activities, dedicated helpline numbers, opening of more cyber cells, and imparting of proper legal, setting up forensic labs and technical training law enforcement agencies like police& judiciary etc. to combat cybercrime. What are Provisions do we have in Indian legal system ?? The Information Technology Act, 2000 together with Indian Penal Code have adequate provisions to deal withprevailing Cyber Crimes. It provides punishment in the form of imprisonment ranging from two years to lifeimprisonment and fine / penalty depending onthe type of Cyber Crime. Other Government Initiatives -:  Cyber Police Stations and Cyber Crime Cells have been set up in each State for reporting and investigatio...

Launched By -:  Atal Innovation Mission and  MyGov today launched the “# InnovateIndia Platform ”, a collaboration between the Atal Innovation Mission and MyGov, a citizen centric platform of the Government of India. Objective -:  The #InnovateIndia portal will serve as the common point for all the innovation happening across the nation. InnovateIndia MyGov-AIM portal creates the much-needed innovations platform for registering both grassroots and deep-tech innovators at a national level. Those searching for a critical innovation can leverage the portal advantageously for the benefit of the economy as well as national social needs.” Features -:  The platform is open to all Indian citizens The users can View, comment, share, and rate the innovations crowdsourced on the #InnovateIndia platform View the leaderboard which is calculated based on the votes on each innovation. Citizens can share their/organizations/someone else’s innovation on the p...

When it was created ??  As announced by Minister of Finance in his Budget Speech for 2017-18, a Fund namely ‘ Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK) ’ has been created with a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore to be utilized over a period of five years for replacement, renewal and upgradation of critical safety assets. A provision of ₹20,000 crore has been made in 2018-19 out of ‘RRSK’ to fund essential works for ensuring safety. LHB Coaches in Indian Railway -:  Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) design coaches are lighter in weight, have higher carrying capacity, higher speed potential, increased codal life and better safety features as compared to Integral Coach Factory (ICF) design coaches. The passenger coaches plying over Indian Railways (IR) have been designed with the necessary safety features considering the operating conditions over IR. However, with a view to providing safer and more comfortable journey to passengers, it has been decided to replace conventional ICF desig...

Why do we need ??  The function of Parliament are varied ,Complex and voluminous . Moreover it has neither the adequate time nor necessary expertise to make a detailed scrutiny of all legislative measures and other matters . It is assisted by a number of committees in the discharge of its duties . The Constitution of India makes a mentio5 of these committees at different places , but without making any specific provisions regarding their composition, tenure, functions etc.   All these matters are Committees rules of two houses . A parliamentary Committee is committee that : Is appointed or elected by the house or nominated by the speaker /chairman  Works under direction of speaker /chairman Presents it’s reports to house or to the speaker / chairman Has a Secretariat provided by the lok sabha / Rajya Sabha   Classification -:  Standing committees – permanent  (constituted every year or periodically) and works on a co...

Who is Implementing -: [Very imp points For Answer Writing on women safety ]  An Action Plan has been furnished by the Ministry of Women and Child Development , which covers legal and schematic interventions to enhance safety of Women Components -:  (i)   to strengthen implementation of legislations including those on prohibition of child marriage, indecent representation of women, protect women against domestic violence, POCSO, trafficking, and prevention and prohibition of sexual harassment. (ii)   implement schematic interventions including those for women to prevent violence and improve status of girl child, involving community for safe neighbourhood, setting up One-Stop Centres in each district for counselling and providing first-aid to women victims of violence, setting up universal Helpline 181, increase working women hostels, strengthen child care institutions for rehabilitation of victims of violence, and strengthen grievance redressal. (iii) ...

Why in News -:  NMM has documented 43.16 lakh manuscripts, conserved 434.56 lakh folios of manuscripts, digitized 283 lakh pages of 2.96 lakh manuscripts and published 44 rare and unpublished manuscripts. About NMM - :  In 2003, National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM), a Mission mode Project, was launched by the Ministry of Culture for documentation, conservation, preservation and digitization of manuscripts The manuscripts documented and digitized by the NMM will be made available to researcher and scholars through a Trusted Digital Repository.  The ultimate object of the Mission is to establish a Digital Manuscripts Repository at IGNCA in which researchers and scholars can view and consult the manuscripts to understand our past in its totality.

Why in News -:  The proposed total budget outlay of the scheme for the financial year 2018-19 and 2019-20 is Rs. 150.00 crores and Rs. 175.00 crores respectively. About SevaBhojYojana -:  The ‘SevaBhojYojna’ is a Central Sector Scheme under which Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) and Central Government’s share of Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) paid by Charitable Religious Institutions like Temples, Gurudwara, Dharmik Ashram, Mosques, Dargah, Church, Matth, Monastries etc. on purchase of specific raw food items shall be reimbursed to them as financial assistance by the Government of India. The specific raw food items covered under the Scheme are  (i) Ghee  (ii) Edible Oil  (iii) Sugar/Burra/Jaggery (iv) Rice   (v) Atta/Maida/Rava/Flour and   (vi) Pulses. Eligibility of religious Institutions -:  These Charitable Religious Institutions should have been distributing free food in the form of ‘prasad’, ‘la...

About ADB -:  The Asian Development Bank (ADB) was established as a financial institution that would foster economic growth and cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. It assists its members and partners by providing loans, technical assistance, grants, and equity investments to promote social and economic development Head Quarter -: Manila,  Philippines  HISTORY -:  The Asian Development Bank was conceived in the early 1960s as a financial institution that would be Asian in character and foster economic growth and cooperation in one of the poorest regions in the world. A resolution passed at the first Ministerial Conference on Asian Economic Cooperation held by the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East in 1963 set that vision on the way to becoming reality. The Philippines capital of Manila was chosen to host the new institution, which opened on 19 December 1966, with 31 members that came together to serve a predominantly...

KHELO INDIA TALENT DEVELOPMENT Scheme Why in News -:  Following the successful conduct of the Khelo India School Games, Sports Authority of India took another significant step towards the development of sports earlier today, cleared 734 players for a scholarship programme under Khelo India Talent IdentificationDevelopment scheme.  The salient points -:  A talent identification committee was formed comprising Arjuna Awardees and DronacharyaAwardees to shortlist and propose the names of the beneficiaries to the High Powered Committee, which cleared the above numbers after due diligence.  The scholarship programme is designed to take care of their expenses including training, development, boarding and lodging and tournament exposure apart from offering them out of pocket expense allowance The talent spotting and age verification of the selected players has been driven by the scientific and trusted method through TW3.  An annual stipend of Rs....

Why in News -:  Science& Technology, Earth Sciences; Environment, Forest & Climate Change Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan unveiled a state-of-the-art Air Quality and Weather Forecast System– SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting)at ChandniChowkin Delhi on 21 July 2018 . Special feature -:  The giant true colour LED display gives out real-time air quality index on 24x7 basis with colour coding alongwith 72-hour advance forecast. Developed By -:  The system, first of its kind in the country, was developed indigenously in record time by Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune and operationalized by India Meteorological Department (IMD) . Other features -:  The system will be an integral part of India’s first Air Quality Early Warning System operational in Delhi and will strengthen the existing air quality network of SAFAR, Central Pollution Control Board and Delhi Pollution Control Committee. SAFAR will accelerate pu...