Announced by Hon’ble Prime Minister in his address to the nation, Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) is under implementation in partnership with States/ UTs. The mission aims to provide Household Tap Connection to every rural household of the country by 2024. JJM is a time-bound, mission-mode programme that focuses on service delivery at household level, i.e. water supply on regular and long-term basis in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality.

The mission plans to holistically address the challenges, viz. depleting water sources, increasing water quality-issues, lack of in-village infrastructure, poor Operation & Maintenance, lack of resource efficiency, competing water demands from various sectors, etc.

The goal of the Jal Jeevan Mission is to improve lives of people by ensuring potable water in their households. The mission is not just about creating physical infrastructure but also forging partnerships with various organizations for smooth implementation of JJM. Therefore, Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti has sought interest from foundations, trusts, NGOs, Community Based Organizations (CBOs), VOs, etc. to work closely with the mission as 'Sector Partner'.

Organizations proactively working in the sectors such as water, sanitation and hygiene, natural resources management, community engagement, capacity building & awareness generation, education, health, tribal development, gender & equity, etc. with wide outreach and impact are expected to be associated with the mission. The interested agencies would have to submit their applications online by 16.09.2020 for consideration of the Mission. Details are available on https://jalshakti-ddws.gov.in/.

The Sector Partner will provide support to Mission/ States by working in the broad areas of the mission including selection of Implementation Support Agencies, forging partnership with State Water and Sanitation Mission, to bring together academic institutions, NGOs, civil society, and assisting assist the States to adopt appropriate O&M mechanisms to ensure long term sustainability of sources with special focus on water quality. Further, the scope of work for Sector Partner shall also include providing capacity building support to different stakeholders; identification of successful models in community mobilization for replication, field visits to understand social inclusion, social audit/ monitoring under JJM, etc.

There are many organizations, individuals already working in the field of water have shown genuine interests to be partner in the Jal Jeevan Mission. Thus, by engaging Sector Partners, JJM aims to harness the huge potential of the local community through Voluntary Organizations (VOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), social service & charity organizations, and professionals working in drinking water sector, who are willing to work towards mobilizing and enhancing the capacities of the communities to achieve the goal of the mission.

The mission aims at capacity building of Gram Panchayat and/ or its sub-committee, i.e., Village Water & Sanitation Committee (VWSC)/ Paani Samiti on managerial, technical and financial aspects so that they can plan, manage, implement, operate and maintain the in-village water supply infrastructure. Communities are also to be enabled to take up surveillance of quality of water supplied by training five persons, preferably women, in every village for quality testing through Field Test Kits (FTKs). To take forward these activities, role of organizations working in rural areas will be very vital especially in mobilizing the community as well as handholding them.

For the success of this life changing mission, it’s necessary that Government and private/ corporate sector including voluntary & charity organizations join hands together to develop synergy for efficient outputs. To make water everyone’s business, the mission strives to build partnerships and work together with different stakeholders to achieve drinking water security for all.

The Bureau of Police Research and Development is celebrating its Golden Jubilee Anniversary tomorrow, i.e., 28th August, 2020. Sh. G Kishan Reddy, MoS Home, has consented to be the Chief Guest and Sh. Ajay Kumar Bhalla, Home Secretary, MHA, will be the Guest of Honour. Due to the Corona pandemic, the function will be conducted on virtual mode. The function will be viewed by the BPR&D Hqrs., its outlying units, States’ Police and CAPFs through the video link provided for this purpose.

The Bureau of Police Research and Development was raised on 28th August, 1970, through a resolution of Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, with a mandate to promote excellence in policing, promote speedy and systematic study of police problems, apply science and technology in the method and techniques by the Police.

The Bureau was initially started with two Divisions, i.e., Research, Publication & Statistics Division and Development Division. In 1973, the Training Division was added, on the recommendation of the Gore Committee on Police training. In 1995, Correctional Division was started to study the issues of Prisons and Prison Reforms. In 2008, the National Police Mission was added and Development Division was restructured as Modernization Division.

Over the years, the BPR&D has transformed through several additions of responsibilities into the present role. Now, with the raising of a new unit, Central Academy for Police Training at Bhopal, specialized as Centre of Excellence for Police & Correctional Administration, BPR&D has 6 outlying units.

The contribution of the BPR&D to Indian Police has been aptly summed up by Union Home Minister Shri Amit Shah on its 49th Foundation Day, while ushering the Bureau into its 50th year of existence:

“बी. पी. आर. एण्ड डी. के बगैर अच्छी पुलिसिंग की कल्पना नहीं हो सकती” (Good policing can not be imagined without BPR&D)

The journey of BPR&D, over the last 5 decades, has been spectacular as it has played a vital role in shaping the Indian Police. It has prepared the Police Forces through its training interventions and capacity building programmes, through research and National Mission projects, through various modernization initiatives to keep the Police Forces in pace with latest change and challenges. In the last 5 years, BPR&D has focussed on capacity building of the police officials and has trained about 55,000 Officers and men.

766 Routes Sanctioned so far under the Scheme

Major Boost to Connectivity in North East, Hilly States and Islands New Routes Connect Agatti, Kavaratti and Minicoy Islands in Lakshadweep Posted On: 27 AUG 2020 2:41PM by PIB Delhi

78 new routes under the 4th round of Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS)- UdeDesh Ka AamNagrik (UDAN) have been approved following the three successful rounds of bidding by the Ministry of Civil Aviation. This will further enhance the connectivity to remote and regional areas of the country. The North Eastern Region, Hilly States and Islands have been given priority in the approval process for the new routes.

Special boost is being given to connectivity in North East with routes from Guwahati to Tezu, Rupsi, Tezpur, Passighat, Misa and Shillong. People will be able to fly from Hissar to Chandigarh, Dehradun and Dharmshala under these UDAN 4 routes. Routes from Varanasi to Chitrakoot and Shravasti have also been approved.Agatti, Kavaratti and Minicoy islands of Lakshadweep have also been connected by the new routes of UDAN 4.0.

So far, 766 routes have been sanctioned under the UDAN scheme. 29 served, 08 unserved (including 02 heliports and 01 water aerodrome), and 02 underserved airports have been included in the list for approved routes.

The 4th round of UDAN was launched in December 2019 with a special focus on North-Eastern Regions, Hilly States, and Islands. The airports that had already been developed by AAI are given higher priority for the award of VGF(Viability Gap Funding) under the Scheme. Under UDAN 4, the operation of helicopter and seaplanes is also been incorporated. Since its inception, MoCA has operationalized 274 UDAN routes that have connected 45 airports and 3 heliports.

About 24 crore mandays employment has been provided and Rs.18,862 crore spent by the 9th week of the Abhiyaan Posted On: 26 AUG 2020 3:49PM by PIB Delhi

The Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyaan (GKRA) has been launched to boost employment and livelihood opportunities for migrant workers returning to villages and similarly affected citizens in rural areas, in the wake of COVID-19 outbreak.

The Abhiyaan is taking action on mission mode to provide employment to migrant workers who have returned to their native villages of 6 states namely Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The Abhiyaan is now empowering villagers with livelihood opportunities in 116 districts of these states.

By the 9th week, a total of about 24 crore mandays employment has been provided and Rs.18,862 crore has been spent so far in the pursuit of objectives of the Abhiyaan. A large number of structures have been created so far including 85,786 water conservation structures, 2,63,846 rural houses, 19,397 cattle shed, 12,798 farm ponds, and 4,260 Community Sanitary Complexes.

6342 works have been taken up through District Mineral Funds, 1002 Gram Panchayats have been provided internet connectivity, a total of 13,022 works related to solid and liquid waste management taken up, and 31,658 candidates have been provided skill training through Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) during the Abhiyaan.

The Abhiyaan’s success so far can be seen as convergent efforts of 12 Ministries/Departments and State Governments, which are giving higher quantum of benefits to the migrant workers and rural communities. The stage is set for longer term initiative for jobs and livelihoods for those who choose to stay back.

Why in News? Hurricane Laura has made landfall in southwestern Louisiana in US as one of the most powerful storms to hit the state.

What Are Hurricanes? Hurricanes are large, swirling storms. They produce winds of 119 kilometers per hour (74 mph) or higher. They form over warm ocean waters.

What Are the Parts of a Hurricane? Eye: The eye is the “hole” at the center of the storm. Winds are light in this area. Skies are partly cloudy, and sometimes even clear.

Eye wall: The eye wall is a ring of thunderstorms. These storms swirl around the eye. The wall is where winds are strongest and rain is heaviest. Rain bands: Bands of clouds and rain go far out from a hurricane’s eye wall. These bands stretch for hundreds of miles. They contain thunderstorms and sometimes tornadoes.

How Does a Storm Become a Hurricane? A hurricane starts out as a tropical disturbance. This is an area over warm ocean waters where rain clouds are building.

A tropical disturbance sometimes grows into a tropical depression. This is an area of rotating thunderstorms with winds of 62 km/hr (38 mph) or less. A tropical depression becomes a tropical storm if its winds reach 63 km/hr (39 mph). A tropical storm becomes a hurricane if its winds reach 119 km/hr (74 mph).

What Makes Hurricanes Form? Warm ocean waters provide the energy a storm needs to become a hurricane. Usually, the surface water temperature must be 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) or higher for a hurricane to form.

Winds that don’t change much in speed or direction as they go up in the sky. Winds that change a lot with height can rip storms apart.

Context: Attorney General of India KK Venugopal has told the Centre that it must compensate states fully for the loss of Goods and Services Tax revenue during the coronavirus-induced lockdown.

The Centre had sought advice from the attorney general on the matter.

Attorney General- Facts: The Attorney General for India is the central government’s chief legal advisor, and its primary lawyer in the Supreme Court of India. He is a part of the Union Executive.

Appointment and eligibility: He is appointed by the President of India under Article 76(1) of the Constitution and holds office during the pleasure of the President. He must be a person qualified to be appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court.

He should be an Indian Citizen. He must have either completed 5 years in High Court of any Indian state as a judge or 10 years in High Court as an advocate. He may be an eminent jurist too, in the eye of the President.

Powers and Functions: The Attorney General is necessary for giving advice to the Government of India in legal matters referred to him. He also performs other legal duties assigned to him by the President.

The Attorney General has the right of audience in all Courts in India as well as the right to participate in the proceedings of the Parliament, though not to vote.

The Attorney General appears on behalf of Government of India in all cases (including suits, appeals and other proceedings) in the Supreme Court in which Government of India is concerned.

He also represents the Government of India in any reference made by the President to the Supreme Court under Article 143 of the Constitution. The Attorney General can accept briefs but cannot appear against the Government.

He cannot defend an accused in the criminal proceedings and accept the directorship of a company without the permission of the Government. The Attorney General is assisted by two Solicitor General and four Additional Solicitor Generals.

Context: The Delhi-based principal bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal has initiated hearing of matters pertaining to regional benches through video conferencing.

About AFT: It is a military tribunal in India. It was established in 2009 under the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007.

The act was passed on the basis of recommendation of 169th Law Commission Report and various Supreme Court directives.

Powers and functions: To adjudicate Disputes and complaints with respect to commission, appointments, enrolments and conditions of service in respect of persons subject to the Army Act, 1950, The Navy Act, 1957 and the Air Force Act, 1950.

Composition: Each Bench comprises of a Judicial Member and an Administrative Member. Judicial Members are retired High Court Judges.

Administrative Members are retired Members of the Armed Forces who have held the rank of Major General/ equivalent or above for a period of three years or more or Judge Advocate General (JAG), who have held the appointment for at least one year.

Who can be a chairperson? The person holding the office of chairperson of AFT must have been either a retired judge of Supreme Court or a Retired chief justice of high court.

Exceptions: Paramilitary forces including the Assam Rifles and Coast Guard are outside the tribunal’s purview.

AFT is considered to be a criminal court with respect to Indian Penal Code, and Code of Criminal Procedure.

Appeals against the decision of the AFT can be taken only in Supreme Court. High Courts are not allowed to entertain such appeals.

What is it? The EOHO Scheme is an economic recovery measure by the UK government to support hospitality businesses as they reopen after the COVID-19 lockdown in the country.

The scheme was announced on July 8 as part of the Plans for Jobs summer economic update.

How it works? Under the EOHO Scheme, the government would subsidise meals (food and non-alcoholic drinks only) at restaurants by 50 per cent, from Monday to Wednesday every week, all through August.

The discount is capped at GBP 10 per head and does not apply to take-away or event catering.

There is no minimum spend and no limit on the number of times customers can avail the offer, since the whole point of the scheme is to encourage a return to dining in restaurants.

EOHO scheme would cost GBP 500 million.

Why was this scheme deemed necessary? All over the world, the food services sector is one of the worst affected by the pandemic.

In the UK, the top two concerns were customers avoiding restaurants for fear of contracting the virus and customers having less disposable income for dining out.

The scheme makes eating out more affordable for consumers directly and helps restore demand. And Restoring consumer demand is being seen as crucial to the UK’s economic recovery.

What do critics of the scheme say? The scheme may have been introduced too early, since it was not yet clear whether the problem was on the demand side, with people being reluctant to go out and eat, or on the supply side, with restaurants unable to serve enough people, thanks to social distancing.

The scheme benefits everyone, regardless of income. Higher income households would have returned to restaurants anyway.

Context: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has retained a whopping amount of Rs 73,615 crore within the RBI by transferring it to the Contingency Fund (CF) of the central bank.

As a result, the CF has swelled to a new high of Rs 264,034 crore.

Under what provisions does the central government receive money from the RBI? As per Section 47 of the RBI Act, profits or surplus of the RBI are to be transferred to the government, after making various contingency provisions, public policy mandate of the RBI, including financial stability considerations.

The RBI’s transfer this year is as per the economic capital framework (ECF) adopted by the RBI board last year.

What is the Contingency Fund (CF)? This is a specific provision meant for meeting unexpected and unforeseen contingencies.

This includes depreciation in the value of securities, risks arising out of monetary/exchange rate policy operations, systemic risks and any risk arising on account of the special responsibilities enjoined upon the Reserve Bank.

This amount is retained within the RBI.

RBI’s risk provision accounts: The central bank’s main risk provision accounts are Contingency Fund, Currency and Gold Revaluation Account (CGRA), Investment Revaluation Account Foreign Securities (IRA-FS) and Investment Revaluation Account-Rupee Securities (IRA-RS). Together now they amount to Rs 13.88 lakh crore.

What’s the CGRA account? The Currency and Gold Revaluation Account (CGRA) is maintained by the Reserve Bank to take care of currency risk, interest rate risk and movement in gold prices.

Unrealised gains or losses on valuation of foreign currency assets (FCA) and gold are not taken to the income account but instead accounted for in the CGRA.

CGRA provides a buffer against exchange rate/ gold price fluctuations. It can come under pressure if there is an appreciation of the rupee vis-à-vis major currencies or a fall in the price of gold.

What are IRA-FS and IRA-RS accounts? The unrealised gains or losses on revaluation in foreign dated securities are recorded in the Investment Revaluation Account Foreign Securities (IRA-FS).

Similarly, the unrealised gains or losses on revaluation is accounted for in Investment Revaluation Account-Rupee Securities (IRA-RS).

Context: NITI Aayog in partnership with the Institute of Competitiveness has released the Export Preparedness Index (EPI) 2020.

EPI is the first report to examine export preparedness and performance of Indian states.

How were states ranked? The index ranked states on four key parameters – policy; business ecosystem; export ecosystem; export performance.

The index also took into consideration 11 sub-pillars — export promotion policy; institutional framework; business environment; infrastructure; transport connectivity; access to finance; export infrastructure; trade support; R&D infrastructure; export diversification; and growth orientation.

Highlights of the report: Top 3 states: Gujarat, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Among the landlocked states, Rajasthan has performed the best, followed by Telangana and Haryana. Among the Himalayan states, Uttarakhand topped the chart, followed by Tripura and Himachal Pradesh.

Across Union Territories, Delhi has performed the best, followed by Goa and Chandigarh. On policy parameters, Maharashtra topped the index followed by Gujarat and Jharkhand.

On business ecosystem parameter, Gujarat was ranked number one followed by Delhi and Tamil Nadu. In the export ecosystem parameter, Maharashtra topped the Index followed by Odisha and Rajasthan.

On the export performance parameter, Mizoram led the index, followed by Gujarat and Maharashtra. At present, 70 per cent of India’s export has been dominated by five states – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Telangana.

Export promotion in India faces three fundamental challenges: Intra- and inter-regional disparities in export infrastructure. Poor trade support and growth orientation among states. Poor R&D infrastructure to promote complex and unique exports.

What needs to be done? A joint development of export infrastructure. Strengthening industry-academia linkages. Creating state-level engagements for economic diplomacy. Revamped designs and standards for local products. Harness the innovating tendencies to provide new use cases for such products, with adequate support from the Centre.

Way ahead: Rapid growth of exports is a crucial component for long-term economic growth. A favourable ecosystem enables a country to contribute significantly to global value chains and reap the benefits of integrated production networks, globally.

Context: NITI Aayog has launched the India Component of the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)–Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA).

About NDC- TIA: It is a joint programme, supported by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU).

It aims to promote a comprehensive approach to decarbonize transport in India, Vietnam, and China. It is implemented by a consortium of seven other organisations. On behalf of the Government of India, NITI Aayog will be the implementing partner.

Implementation: The NDC-TIA programme has a duration of 4 years. It will allow India and other partner countries to achieve accountable long-term targets by making a sectoral contribution through various interventions, coordinated with a large number of stakeholders in the domain.

This will contribute towards achieving their NDCs and increasing their ambition in the transport sector of 2025 NDCs.

Need for such initiatives: India has a massive and diverse transport sector that caters to the needs of billion people.

It has the world’s second-largest road network, which contributes to maximum greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through all means of transportation. With increasing urbanisation, the fleet size i.e. the number of sales of vehicles is increasing rapidly. It is projected that the total number of vehicles will be doubled by 2030.

Pampa is the third longest river in Kerala after Periyar and Bharathappuzha.

Sabarimala templededicated to Lord Ayyappa is located on the banks of the river.

The river is also known as ‘Dakshina Bhageerathi’ and ‘River Baris’.

It is a recreational folk art from the state of Kerala.

It is performed by trained artists to entertain people on the occasion of Onam, an annual harvest festival, celebrated mainly in Kerala.

Literal meaning of Pulikkali is the ‘play of the tigers’.

The origin of Pulikkali dates back to over 200 years, when the Maharaja Rama Varma Sakthan Thampuran, the then Maharaja of Cochin, is said to have introduced the folk art.

The Hezbollah is a Shia Islamist political partythat is based in Lebanon. The organization was founded by the Iranian effort in 1980s to aggregate Lebanese Shia groups. In the on-going Iran-Israel conflicts, Hezbollah acts as a proxy for Iran.

Why in News? Israel launches air attacks at Hezbollah posts on Lebanon border. Israel and Lebanon are still technically at war, and United Nations force UNIFIL is tasked with monitoring the ceasefire.

7 New ASI Circles: Culture Ministry announced 7 new circles of the Archaeological Survey of India. Trichy, Raiganj, Rajkot, Jabalpur, Jhansi and Meerut have been announced as new circles and Hampi Mini Circle has been converted into a full fledged circle.

ASI was founded in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham who became its first Director-General.

Latest developments: The Supreme Court has refused to entertain the Andhra Pradesh government‘s plea challenging the state high court’s decision ordering status quo on two new laws enabling the formation of three capital cities.

What’s the issue? On August 4, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered status quo on two new laws that enable the establishment of three new capitals for the state.

On July 31 the state government notified the AP Decentralisation And Inclusive Development of All Regions Act, 2020,and the AP Capital Region Development Authority (Repeal) Act, 2020.

Latest developments: The United States has blacklisted 24 Chinese companies and targeted a number of individuals it said were part of construction and military actions related to disputed islands in the South China Sea.

What’s the issue? The United States accuses China of militarising the South China Sea and trying to intimidate Asian neighbors who might want to exploit its extensive oil and gas reserves.

The U.S. has conducted multiple freedom of navigation operations by sending its warships through the area to assert the freedom of access to international waterways.

China claims 90% of the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, but Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also lay claim to parts of an area through which about $3 trillion of trade passes each year.