Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 3rdJan 2022

NEWS

Close on the heels of Durga Puja being accorded the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage tag, Karnataka is set to initiate the process to secure a similar status for Mysuru Dasara.

ABOUT MYSURU DASARA

• “Nadahabha” or the state festival of the state of Karnataka
• Celebration of the festival is steered by the Royal Family of Mysore.
• Celebrated for 10 days and concludes with Vijayadashami.
• World famous Jamboo Savari (Mysore Dasara procession)is held on the street of Mysore city on Vijayadashami
• The idol of the Goddess chamundeshwari, which is placed on a golden mantapa on the top of a decorated elephant.

NEWS

Success of Yuva initiative of Delhi police is being discussed

ABOUT THE INITIATIVE

Initiative of Delhi Police

AIM -

• Engage and steer street children & youth towards the mainstream of society
• Providing them with the opportunities to realise their potential and creating awareness about their potential through sports, Nukkad Nataks and skill development training.
• Prevent the youth from committing crime and delinquent acts
• Encourage them to partner with police in maintaining law and order, management of crime and connecting with community at large.
• Connect with the youth by upgrading their skills as per their competencies. It will help them to get gainful employment under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna of the Ministry of Skill Development, GoI.

Delhi Police has tied up with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for imparting job-linked skill training to the selected youth.

ROLE OF NSDC - Providing skill training to this youth under ‘Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna’ (PMKVY) and CII will provide job-linked training through its Sector Skill Councils which are connected to industry and thereby provide job opportunities.

NEWS

Union Education Minister launched a 100-day Reading Campaign called ‘Padhe Bharat’.

DETAILS

• Launched to improve learning levels of students.
• Marks a significant step to improve learning levels because it develops creativity, critical thinking, vocabulary as well as ability to express in writing & verbal forms.
• Will help children in relating to their surroundings and real-life situation.
• Which Children will be covered:Children studying in Balvatika to class 8 will be covered under the campaign.
• How long: 100 days or 14 weeks
• Aim : Including the participation of all stakeholders at national as well as state level including children, educational administrators, teachers, parents, community, etc.
• Activities
• Under the 100 days campaign, one activity has been designed per week per group, with the objective of making reading enjoyable and building a lifelong association with joy of reading.
• Ministry has prepared a comprehensive guideline on Reading Campaign as well as age-appropriate weekly calendar of activities. All the guidelines have been shared states and union territories.

ABOUT THE SCHEME

• Maternity benefit rechristened from erstwhile Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY).
• Conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women.
• Provides a partial wage compensation to women for wage-loss during childbirth and childcare and to provide conditions for safe delivery and good nutrition and feeding practices.
• Receive a cash benefit of Rs. 5,000 in three instalments on fulfilling the respective conditionality, viz. early registration of pregnancy, ante-natal check-up and registration of the birth of the child and completion of first cycle of vaccination for the first living child of the family.
• The eligible beneficiaries also receive cash incentive under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). Thus, on an average, a woman gets Rs. 6,000.
• Exceptions: The maternity benefits are available to all Pregnant Women & Lactating Mothers (PW&LM) except those in regular employment with the Central Government or State Government or Public Sector Undertaking or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force.
• Funding:
  • Centrally Sponsored Scheme
  • Cost sharing ratio between the Centre and the States & UTs with Legislature is 60:40 while for North-Eastern States & three Himalayan States; it is 90:10
  • 100% Central assistance for Union Territories without Legislature.

NEED FOR SPECIAL ATTENTION:

• Under-nutrition. In India, every third woman is undernourished and every second woman is anaemic. An undernourished mother almost inevitably gives birth to a low birth weight baby.
• Owing to economic and social distress many women continue to work to earn a living for their family right up to the last days of their pregnancy.
• They resume working soon after childbirth, even though their bodies might not permit it, thus preventing their bodies from fully recovering on one hand, and also impeding their ability to exclusively breastfeed their young infant in the first six months.

ISSUES :

• Performance of the scheme has been deficient, necessitating urgent need for improvement
• Novel coronavirus pandemic has resulted in economic shocks for 260 lakh women who deliver on an average a child each year in India.
• An exclusion error of at least 60% since 2017, as the target has remained unchanged over the years
• Further, the enrolment and disbursements under the scheme have witnessed a downward fall in the last two years, as in the data provided by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) in response to my parliamentary questions.
• In 2020-21, more than 50% of registered beneficiaries did not receive all three instalments and there was a 9% drop in enrolment under the scheme.
• Overall budget for women and child development was reduced by 20% for 2021-22. Additionally, Budget allocation for the PMMVY has also been slashed as it has been clubbed under SAMARTHYA along with multiple other schemes such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, Mahila Shakti Kendra and Gender Budgeting/Research/Training.

ACTION BY STATES

States such as Odisha, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, respectively, chose to implement State-specific schemes for maternity benefits in the form of MAMATA (2011) or the maternity entitlement scheme, the KCR Kit (2017), which has items such as baby oil, soaps, mosquito net and dresses, and the Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefit Scheme (MRMBS) with relatively increased coverage and higher maternity benefits. Odisha’s MAMATA, for instance, has been offering a conditional cash transfer of ₹5,000 as maternity benefit for up to two live births for more than a decade now.

In a comparative analysis between the PMMVY and MAMATA for 2020-21, the PMMVY shows poor performance with a 52% drop in the number of beneficiaries covered while MAMATA showcased a 57% increase in women who received all the instalments. The scheme stands as a testament to an inclusive and efficient implementation of the maternity benefit programme, thereby serving as promising evidence for the Centre to improve the PMMVY in line with the Odisha government Scheme.

WAY FORWARD

SECOND LIVE BIRTH

• Extend the maternity benefit under the PMMVY to the second live birth.
• The predecessor scheme, the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana was applicable for two live births. Of the total live births in India, 49.5% comprises first-order births and 29.9% are second-order births, as per Sample Registration Survey 2018.
• It is imperative to include second live birth under the maternity benefit cover particularly for women in the unorganised sector who are more vulnerable to economic shocks and nutrition loss for all child births.

INCREASE IN THE MATERNITY BENEFIT AMOUNT

• Since the primary objective of the PMMVY is to provide partial wage compensation, we need to revisit the maternity benefit amount offered under the scheme.
• Most women continue to work during and post-pregnancy since they cannot afford to lose wages; additionally, they also spend on out-of-pocket expenses during pregnancy.
• The current entitlement of ₹5,000 provided over one year amounts to one month’s wage loss (as per the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act wage rate of ₹202).

SIMPLIFY THE PROCESS

• Eliminate correction queues. Further, the implementation gaps in the PMMVY scheme lead to reduced coverage. These gaps stem from a lack of awareness within targeted beneficiaries and process level challenges.
• The current registration form requires a mother and child protection (MPC) card, husband’s Aadhaar card, bank passbook and registration form for each of the three instalments, resulting in delayed, rejected or pending applications.
• A simplification of the process can result in increased registration of beneficiaries.

OTHERS

To fulfill India’s commitment towards the Sustainable Development Goal of improving maternal health, an ambitious Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment (POSHAN) Abhiyan and a national maternity benefit scheme are promising initiatives by the Centre.

However, targets can be achieved only if we revisit the design and implementation of this scheme, drawing lessons from States such as Odisha which are successfully prioritising maternal health and nutrition in a pragmatic manner.

WHAT - Money floating in the system that is available to all stakeholders of the markets viz.  Individuals, corporate entities and the government.

INFLUENCED BY - demand and supply of money in the system

WHO MANAGES - RBI

HOW RBI MANAGES - Inject liquidity in the system or absorb the liquidity in the system

THREE WAYS THE LIQUIDITY CAN GET AFFECTED.

• Government Borrowings: Government is the biggest borrower in India. It borrows in the form of the securities to fund the deficit that arises when its income falls short of expenses.
• Corporate Borrowings: Increased borrowings by the corporate sector to fund the Capital expenditures and short term credit needs can affect the liquidity of the system.
• RBI Interference: RBI may reduce the availability of the rupee by buying rupee and selling a foreign currency such as the US dollar. This is primarily done to maintain the value of rupee. RBI can withdraw excess liquidity from the financial market also when it sees that assets prices are approaching towards a bubble situation.

NEWS

Birth anniversary of Savitri Bai Phule  celebrated

ABOUT

• Born in Naigaon in Maharashtra on January 3, 1831
• Widely regarded as one of India’s first generation modern feminists for her significant contributions in ensuring equal education opportunities under the British raj.
• Became the first female teacher in India in 1848
• Opened a school for girls along with her husband, social reformer Jyotirao Phule.
• Worked against discrimination based on caste-based identity
• Established a shelter for widows in 1854 , which later accommodated destitute women and child brides cast aside by their families by 1864
• Played a pivotal role in directing the work of the Satyashodhak Samaj, formed by her husband with the objective to achieve equal rights for the marginalised lower castes.
• Opened a clinic in 1897 for victims of the bubonic plague that spread across Maharashtra just before the turn of the century.
• Set up “Balhatya Pratibandhak Griha”.
• In her honour, University of Pune was renamed Savitribai Phule University in 2014.

NEWS

Aviation Ministry releases draft National Air Sports Policy

DETAILS

• Will require entities providing these services and their equipment to be registered, as well as be liable for penalties.
• Cover activities like aerobatics, aeromodelling, amateur-built and experimental aircraft, ballooning, drones, gliding, hang gliding, paragliding, microlighting, paramotoring, skydiving, and vintage aircraft.
• Proposes a two-tier governance structure for air sports in the country, which will include an apex governing body called the Air Sports Federation of India (ASFI) and associations for each air sport.
• The ASFI will be an autonomous body under the Ministry of Civil Aviation and will represent India at the Lausanne-headquartered Fédération Aéronaautique Internationale (FAI) and other global platforms related to air sports. It will provide governance over various aspects of air sports, including regulation, certification, competitions, awards and penalties.
• Each air sports association will lay down its safety standards for equipment, infrastructure, personnel and training, and specify the disciplinary actions to be taken in case of non-compliance. Inability to do so may lead to penal action by the ASFI.
• All persons and entities providing air sports services will be required to register as members of the respective air sports associations. Key equipment used will also have to be registered.
• Proposed that popular air sports attractions in the country such as Bir Billing in Himachal Pradesh, Gangtok in Sikkim, Hadapsar in Maharashtra and Vagamon in Kerala can be declared as a “control zone” for air sports in order to ensure the safety of other manned aircraft.
• Schools and colleges will be encouraged to include air sports in their curriculum and their students will have the opportunity to participate in the FAI’s international competitions.
• Also aims to promote domestic design, development and manufacturing of air sports equipment under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan; waive import duty on equipment for a few years; as well as request the GST Council to consider rationalising the GST rate on air sports equipment to 5% or less.

• Seeking to honour Puneeth Rajkumar who was a role model for youths with his dignified conduct, simplicity and social service, the government has named the podium of ‘Udyami Aagu, Udyoga Needu’ after the late actor.
• Basti Vaman Shenoy, founder of World Konkani Centre, Mangaluru, passed away on due to age-related illness.