Posted On: 24 FEB 2020 6:06PM by PIB Delhi The Union Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar today inaugurated the 4th Anniversary celebration of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre in New Delhi.
The Mission was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 21st February 2016, with the vision to deliver catalytic interventions to rural areas on the threshold of growth. The objective is to develop the clusters in a holistic manner by providing all the basic amenities, infrastructure as well as economic development opportunities in an integrated and time bound manner.
Addressing the gathering after lighting the ceremonial lamp, Union Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar congratulated all the participants on the 4th Anniversary of the Mission and said that the Rurban mission embodies the spirit of Indian culture and tradition which is that of community living. Shri Tomar said that the community perspective has to be kept in mind for holistic development of a region and cluster approach is very fruitful in that regard.
The Minister urged that people should be dedicated towards achieving the objective of ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’ and work towards development of villages and rural India with a community spirit. He said that when the community spirit and effort increases then Centre and State will work together for development of clusters and all schemes will be made convergent towards that objective.
The Union Minister said that the amount of funding given to this scheme is mostly for gap funding but the Central and State government funding together can have a good impact on development of clusters.
Shri Tomar said that any project in its nascent stage faces a lot of hurdles or difficulties but when all the people decide to work together in unison then development will definitely be achieved.
The Minister hailed the efforts of all involved with the SPM Rurban Mission and urged all to work harder for making this mission a success and increase the overall level of development especially in Rural India.
Secretary, Department of Rural Development Shri Rajesh Bhushan hailed the positive interventions and success stories under the Rurban Mission and welcomed all the participants from various States and Panchayati Raj institutions to share their experiences and difficulties faced so that others can learn from them and improve overall implementation. Shri Bhushan highlighted the achievements under the mission and said that 300 clusters have been allocated so far by the Ministry out of which 296 have been approved.
Talking about the importance of the Mission, the Secretary said that this mission leads to convergence of the schemes of Union Government and the State Governments which leads to overall development of the region in a planned and organized manner.
Shri Bhushan said that the critical gap funding aspect of the mission leads to further convergence and improves efficiency in overall implementation by providing financial assistance for various projects.
He further informed that the mission provides good employment opportunities, basic as well as urban facilities to rural India such as waste management, smart classrooms, piped water supply, Roads, Agro processing and value addition to primary produce etc and therefore is critical for holistic development.
Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ chaired a high level meeting to review the progress of the Public and Private institutions which were considered to be given the status of Institutions of Eminence on the advice of UGC and the Empowered Expert Committee under the leadership of N. Gopalaswamy. Secretary, MHRD Shri Amit Khare and senior officials of the Ministry were also present in the meeting.
During the meeting,the HRD Minister said that all the institutions recognised under IoE Scheme are the foundation stones in making a New and better India and they have to lead the new generation towards excellence. He said that the focus of our government is to provide quality education to the students of the country, especially in the areas of research and innovation.
The Minister added that these institutions have towork hard to improve their position in global rankings and to make these institutions, the centres of excellence at global level.
The Minister also reviewed the status of infrastructure and human resource in these institutions and assured to extend maximum support to them by the Ministry for high quality teaching and research and for the advancement of knowledge.
Various decisions taken during the meeting to empower these institutions and to help them become world class teaching and research institutions are as follows: Institutions will invite Nobel laureates, academicians, professors, foreign faculty etc to visit Indian educational institutions to enlarge and deepen the interface of India’s institutions of higher learning and globally recognised institutions of academic eminence.
All the balance amount for the year 2019-2020 and new amount/funds to be paid to these institutions may be paid in the current financial year. Entire architecture for giving access to Research Journals to be reviewed and open access may be provided to the institutions under IoE.
One Project Monitoring Unit to be established to monitor the progress of these institutions and activities undertaken by them.
These institutions may adopt and develop model villages as part of the Unnat Bharat scheme for sustainable development in rural India.
The Union Minister for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare, Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar has said the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) Scheme is comprehensive, ambitious and will help boost farmers’ income.
Addressing a function here today to mark the 1st anniversary of starting of the Scheme, Shri Tomar said the Central Sector Scheme PM-KISAN is among the several new initiatives undertaken by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi focusing on Agriculture and Rural Development sectors.
The Prime Minister has set the target of doubling farmers’ income by the year 2022, he added.
Shri Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs(MCA), today inaugurated the ‘SPICe+’ Web Form here today.
As part of Government of India’s Ease of Doing Business (EODB) initiatives, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has notified a new Web Form christened ‘SPICe+’ (pronounced ‘SPICe Plus’) replacing the existing SPICe form. SPICe+ would offer 10 services by 3 Central Govt Ministries & Departments (Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Ministry of Labour & Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance) and One State Government (Maharashtra), thereby saving as many procedures, time and cost for Starting a Business in India and would be applicable for all new company incorporations.
Following are the features of the new Spice+ web form: · SPICe+ would be an integrated Web Form. · SPICe+ would have two parts viz.: Part A-for Name reservation for new companies and Part B offering a bouquet of services viz.
(i) Incorporation (ii) DIN allotment (iii) Mandatory issue of PAN (iv) Mandatory issue of TAN (v) Mandatory issue of EPFO registration
(vi) Mandatory issue of ESIC registration (vii) Mandatory issue of Profession Tax registration(Maharashtra) (viii) Mandatory Opening of Bank Account for the Company and (ix) Allotment of GSTIN (if so applied for)
· The new web form would facilitate On-screen filing and real time data validation for seamless incorporation of companies. For ensuring ease while filing, SPICe+ has been structured into various sections. Information once entered can be saved and modified.
· Registration for EPFO and ESIC shall be mandatory for all new companies to be incorporated through SPICe+ and no EPFO & ESIC registration nos. shall be separately issued by the respective agencies.
· Registration for Profession Tax shall also be mandatory for all new companies to be incorporated in the State of Maharashtra through SPICe+.
· All new companies incorporated through SPICe+ would also be mandatorily required to apply for opening the company’s Bank account through the AGILE-PRO linked web form.
Why do we have leap years? The time required by the Earth to complete its orbit around the Sun is approximately 365.242 days. But years are usually only 365 days.
To adjust for the extra 0.242 days in the orbital period, which becomes almost one full day in four years, the calendar adds an extra day once every four years.
This approximates the time to 365.25 days, which is close to the actual 365.242 days.
Exceptions: In the Gregorian calendar, a century year (a year ending with 00) is not a leap year, even though it is a multiple of 4. Thus, the year 2100 will not be a leap year. To ensure that, some century years remain leap years. In the Gregorian calendar, leap years include those century years which are exactly divisible by 400. Thus, 2000 remained a leap year even though it ended with 00.
Background: NGT is hearing a case on the full implementation of the Biodiversity Act, 2002.
What are Biodiversity Management Committees (BMC)? As per the Biological Diversity Act 2002, BMCs are created for “promoting conservation, sustainable use and documentation of biological diversity” by local bodies across the country.
Composition: It shall consist of a chair person and not more than six persons nominated by the local body, of whom not less than one third should be women and not less than 18% should belong to the Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribes.
The Chairperson of the Biodiversity Management Committee shall be elected from amongst the members of the committee in a meeting to be chaired by the Chairperson of the local body. The chairperson of the local body shall have the casting votes in case of a tie.
Functions: The main function of the BMC is to prepare People’s Biodiversity Register in consultation with the local people. The Register shall contain comprehensive information on availability and knowledge of local biological resources, their medicinal or any other use or any other.
WHAT IS IT? Organised by ministry of minority affairs under “USTTAD” scheme at different parts of the country. It is an exhibition of handicrafts and traditional products made by artisans from the minority communities. These Haat aim to provide market exposure and employment opportunities to artisans, craftsmen and traditional culinary experts.
Significance: “Hunar Haat” have become a successful mission to provide employment and employment opportunities and national as well international markets for thousands of master artisans, craftsmen and culinary experts.
What is USTTAD SCHEME? USTTAD (Upgrading the Skills and Training in Traditional Arts/Crafts for Development) scheme aims to preserve heritage of traditional arts and crafts of minority communities and build capacity of traditional craftspersons and artisans and establish linkages of traditional skills with the global market.
Similar programmes by states: Bhavantar Bhugtan Yojana- MP. The Rythu Bandhu scheme- Telangana. Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income augmentation (KALIA)- Odisha.
About Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi: The scheme was started with a view to augment the income of the farmers by providing income support to all landholding farmers’ families across the country, to enable them to take care of expenses related to agriculture and allied activities as well as domestic needs.
Under the Scheme an amount of Rs.6000/- per year is transferred in three 4-monthly installments of Rs.2000/- directly into the bank accounts of the farmers, subject to certain exclusion criteria relating to higher income status.
The entire responsibility of identification of beneficiaries rests with the State / UT Governments.
Ambit: The Scheme initially provided income support to all Small and Marginal Farmers’ families across the country, holding cultivable land upto 2 hectares. Its ambit was later expanded w.e.f. 01.06.2019 to cover all farmer families in the country irrespective of the size of their land holdings.
Exceptions: Affluent farmers have been excluded from the scheme such as Income Tax payers in last assessment year, professionals like Doctors, Engineers, Lawyers, Chartered Accountants etc and pensioners pensioners drawing at least Rs.10,000/- per month (excluding MTS/Class IV/Group D employees).
What is Jalyukta Shivar? Launched in December 2014 after Maharashtra experienced consecutive droughts. Aimed at rolling out measures that could potentially mitigate water scarcity in the most drought-prone villages in a systematic manner.
Features: The project targeted strengthening and streamlining existing water resources like canals, bunds and ponds by arresting maximum run-off rainwater during monsoon.
Tasks to widen and deepen natural water streams and connect them to nearby water storage facilities like earthern or concrete check-dams was proposed.
What necessitated this? Nearly 52 per cent of the state’s geographical area is prone to drought, either naturally or due to poor rainfall. This includes Marathwada and adjoining areas of Madhya Maharashtra and large parts of Vidarbha.
Was Jalyukta Shivar beneficial? By January 2019, the scheme had transformed 16,000 drought-prone villages of Maharashtra. The irrigation cover had been increased by 34 lakh hectares. In the process, thereby, increasing the crop yield each year, particularly the kharif crops. Until mid-2019, interventions resulted in stocking of water measuring 24 lakh trillion cubic metre.
What are joint commands? It is a unified command in which the resources of all the services are unified under a single commander looking at a geographical theatre.
Meaning, a single military commander, as per the requirements, will have the resources of the Army, the Navy and the Air Force to manage a security threat.
Functions of joint command: The commander of a joint command will have the freedom to train and equip his command.
He will have logistics of all the services at his beckoning. However, the three services will retain their independent identities as well.
Joint command at present: There are two tri-services commands at the moment. The joint command at the moment, the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC), is a theatre command, which is headed by the chiefs of the three services in rotation. It was created in 2001 after a Group of Ministers had given a report on national security following the Kargil War.
The Strategic Forces Command was established in 2006 and is a functional tri-services command.
What is the structure right now? There are 17 commands, divided among the three services. The Army and the Air Force have seven commands each, while the Navy has three commands.
These commands report to their respective services, and are headed by three-star officers.
Though these commands are in the same regions, but they are no located together.
Need for joint commands? The leader of a unified command has control over more varied resources, compared to the heads of the commands under the services now. And the officer commanding will have access to the Air Force’s fighter jets and can use them if needed. Through such integration and jointness the three forces will be able to avoid duplication of resources. The resources available under each service will be available to other services too. The services will get to know one another better, strengthening cohesion in the defence establishment.
Do militaries of other countries have such commands? Several major militaries are divided into integrated theatre commands. China’s People’s Liberation Army has five theatre commands: Eastern, Western, Northern, Southern and Central. Its Western Theatre Command is responsible for India. The US Armed Forces has 11 unified commands, of which seven are geographic and four functional commands. Its geographic commands are Africa, Central, European, Indo-Pacific, Northern, Southern and Space. Cyber, Special Operations, Transportation and Strategic are its functional commands.
Why in News? Arunachal Pradesh State government is planning to build a 692.7 km highway through the Pakke Tiger Reserve (PTR) in East Kameng district. Named the East-West Industrial Corridor, the highway aims to connect Bhairabhunda in West Kameng district and Manmao in Changlang district along Arunachal Pradesh’s border with Assam.
Key facts: Pakke Tiger Reserve is also known as Pakhui Tiger Reserve. This Tiger Reserve has won India Biodiversity Award 2016 in the category of ‘Conservation of threatened species’ for its Hornbill Nest Adoption Programme.
It is bounded by Bhareli or Kameng River in the west and north, and by Pakke River in the east.
Neighbours: Papum Reserve Forest in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam’s Nameri National Park, Doimara Reserve Forest and Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary.
The main perennial streams in the area are the Nameri, Khari and Upper Dikorai. West of Kameng River is Sessa Orchid Sanctuary.
Why in News? Preparations are almost done at the Rushikulya rookery on the Odisha coast to welcome and protect olive ridley turtles during mass nesting.
Security: To provide security to mother turtles as well as the eggs from human and predator intervention, the forest department is erecting an over 5-km-long fence of metal net from Gokharkuda to Bateswar. This stretch is the most preferred location for mass nesting in the Rushikulya rookery.
Key facts: The Olive Ridleys are the second smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in the world.
They inhabit warm waters of the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans. It is well known for its arribadas or annual mass nestings.
IUCN Status: Protection under CITES Appendix 1 and the Indian Wildlife Protection Act of 1972. Operation Kachhapa: Launched by the Wildlife Protection Society of India in collaboration with the Orissa State Forest Department and the Wildlife Society of Odisha and other local NGOs.
Located on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas.
It connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh.
The pass lies on the watershed between the Chenab and Beas basins.
What is it? It is unique as it showcases the richness and diversity of the handicrafts, handlooms and cultural fabric of India, & is the largest crafts fair in the world.
This is 34th time the Surajkund Mela will be held at Faridabad.
The Mela is organized by the Surajkund Mela Authority & Haryana Tourism in collaboration with Union Ministries of Tourism, Textiles, Culture and External Affairs.
Theme state: For the 34th Surajkund International Crafts Mela-2020, the state of Himachal Pradesh has been chosen to be the Theme State.
The main motto behind this festival is to promote handicrafts, handlooms with the aid of craftsmen invited from all over the country. So basically this craft festival is a platform for artists across the globe to showcase their culture and talent.
Context: The decks have been cleared to notify the Malai Mahadeshwara Wildlife Sanctuary in Karnataka’s Chamarajanagar district as a tiger reserve.
The approval from the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is expected any time now.
The sanctuary presently has about 20 tigers.
Once notified, Chamarajanagar district will have the rare distinction in the country of having three tiger reserves. It already has Bandipur and Biligiri Ranganatha Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve within its territorial limits.
Also, with this, Karnataka will have six tiger reserves, the others being Nagarahole, Bhadra, and Anshi-Dandeli, apart from Bandipur and BRT Tiger Reserves.
It is a new species of land snail discovered recently.
It is named in honour of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. The new species comes from tropical rainforests and is sensitive to drought and extreme temperatures.
The snails were found during a field course conducted by Taxon Expeditions at Kuala Belalong Field Studies Centre in Brunei.
Features: The two-millimetre-long snails have dark grey tentacles, a pale body and a concave shell, whose outer part is greenish-brown.
Places in News- Idlib: Why in News? The nine-year-old war in Syria is currently raging in the northwestern province of Idlib, with rapidly escalating tensions between government forces of President Bashar al-Assad and the Turkish military.
Where is it located? Idlib is a city in northwestern Syria, 59 kilometers southwest of Aleppo, which is the capital of the Idlib Governorate.
Dr Niti Kumar, Senior Scientist from Division of Molecular Parasitology and Immunology, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow has received SERB Women Excellence Award-2020.
This award is given to women scientist below 40 years of age who have received recognition from national academies.
The womenresearchers will be supported by research grant of 5 lakhs per annum for 3 years by Science and Engineering Research Board, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India (SERB-DST).
Held recently in New Delhi.
The Conference discussed the changes being introduced by the Government of India to bring Gender Equality in recruiting women in military services, selection process of fighter pilots.
It also discussed on freedom of women to work in mines at night.
The Conference also focused on the need for technology to deliver rapid justice.