Contents:
- International Gandhi awards for Leprosy
- Lucknow Declaration
- Gender Parity Index
- Atal Bhujal Yojana
- 360 degree Evaluation of Civil Servants
- Khelo India
- Measures adoptedto eradicate malnutrition
- India becomes the Second largest producer of Steel
- Contribution of Renewable Energy sources is estimated to be around 21% of Electricity Demand in 2021-22
- 154 Clusters approved during 2018-20 against a Target of 100 under SFRUTI scheme
INTERNATIONAL GANDHI AWARDS FOR LEPROSY
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, presented the International Gandhi Awards for Leprosy to Dr N.S. Dharmashaktu under the Indian nomination (individual) category and the Leprosy Mission Trust under the institutional category
LUCKNOW DECLARATION
The first India-Africa Defence Ministers’ Conclave held in Lucknow on February 06, coinciding with DefExpo-2020, adopted the Lucknow Declaration.
India’s contribution to defence and security in the African continent through setting up of Defence Academies and Colleges in Nigeria, Ethiopia and Tanzania; deployment of training teams in several African countries including Botswana, Namibia, Uganda, Lesotho, Zambia, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania; goodwill ship visits; provision of defence equipment and ammunitions and various other measures, including Defence Training Programmes.
GENDER PARITY INDEX
Gender Parity Index (GPI) at various levels reflects equitable participation of girls in the School system.
To reduce gender gaps at all levels of school education and for providing quality education to girls from disadvantaged groups, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) have been sanctioned in Economically Backward Blocks (EBBs) under Samagra Shiksha.
More about GPI
- World Economic Forum (WEF) has recently released Gender Gap Index-2019 that shows India has slipped to 112th position out of 155 countries.
- India has moved downwards four places in terms of gender equality amid increasing disparity in terms of women’s participation in the development of the country.
- The country is ranked in the bottom five on health and economic fronts
ATAL BHUJAL YOJANA
- Government of India has approved Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal Jal), a Rs.6000 Crore Central Sector Scheme, for sustainable management of ground water resources with community participation in water stressed blocks of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
- The scheme is being implemented during 2020-21 to 2024-25 with the financial assistance of World Bank with a sharing pattern of 50:50 between Government of India and World Bank
360 DEGREE EVALUATION OF CIVIL SERVANTS
A system of 360 degree appraisal involving a Multi-Source Feedback from various stakeholders including from seniors, peers and juniors etc. has been introduced in the process of empanelment of officers for holding senior level positions in the Government of India.
KHELO INDIA
Mallakhamb, Kalaripayattu, Gatka and Thang-Ta are being supported under the vertical of ‘Promotion of Rural and Indigenous/Tribal Games’ under the Khelo India Scheme. Kabaddi and kho kho were also included in 2020.
MEASURES ADOPTED TO ERADICATE MALNUTRITION
The Government has accorded high priority to the issue of malnutrition and is implementing several schemes/programmes of different Ministries/Departments through States/UTs to address various aspects related to nutrition
Ministry(MoWCD) is implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan, Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, Anganwadi Services and Scheme for Adolescent Girls under the Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS) as direct targeted interventions to address the problem of malnutrition among children and women in the country.
POSHAN Abhiyaan was launched on 18.12.2017. The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers in a time bound manner with fixed targets as under:
INDIA BECOMES THE SECOND LARGEST PRODUCER OF STEEL
As per World Steel Association data, India became the second largest steel producer of crude steel after China in 2018 and 2019, by replacing Japan.
CONTRIBUTION OF RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES IS ESTIMATED TO BE AROUND 21% OF ELECTRICITY DEMAND IN 2021-22
As per Central Electricity Authority’s National Electricity Plan, contribution of renewable energy sources is estimated to be around 21% of the total electricity demand of the country in the year 2021-22 and 24% by 2026-27
Major efforts taken by the Government to meet the targets of renewable energy
- Permitting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 percent under the automatic route
- Strengthening of Power Purchase Agreements(PPAs)
- Mandating requirement of Letter of Credit(LC) as payment security mechanism by distribution licensees for ensuring timely payments to RE generators
- Setting of Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Parks to provide land and transmission on plug and play basis to investors
- Waiver of Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) charges and losses for inter-state sale of solar and wind power for projects to be commissioned by 31st December, 2022
- As part of Intended Nationally Determined Contributions under the Paris Accord on Climate Change, India has made a pledge that by 2030, 40% of its installed power generation capacity shall be from non-fossil fuel sources and will reduce its carbon emission intensity of GDP by 33-35 % considering 2005 level.
- The Government has set a target to install 175 GW of renewable energy capacity in the country by the year 2022.
- This includes 100 GW from solar, 60 GW from wind, 10 GW from biomass and 5 GW from small hydro power.
154 CLUSTERS APPROVED DURING 2018-20 AGAINST A TARGET OF 100 UNDER SFURTI SCHEME
- In the year 2018-19, 70 proposals and in 2019-20 (till 31.01.2020), 84 proposals have been approved, which is a substantial jump over the period from 2014-15 to 2017-18, when against a target of 71 clusters to be set up during 12th Five Year Plan period, 72 clusters were approved till 2017-18
- The sectors covered under SFURTI include Khadi products, Honey & related products, Coir & related products, Handloom, Traditional dress making, Handicraft, Traditional arts like – Kalamkari, Dokra art, Aipan art, Food processing, Bamboo products etc.
- The main objective of the SFURTI scheme is to organize the traditional industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive, provide support for their long term sustainability, to provide sustained employment for traditional industry artisans & rural entrepreneurs, to enhance marketability of products etc.
- The scheme provides support in the form of two interventions viz. Hard Interventions and Soft Interventions
- Hard Interventions include creation of Common Facility Centres (CFCs), Raw material banks (RMBs), Up-gradation of production infrastructure, Tools and technological up-gradation etc.
- Soft Interventions include counselling, trust building, skill development and capacity building etc.
