Daily CURRENT AFFAIRS

Daily Current Affair - UPSC/KAS Exams - 8th Feb 2022

 NEWS

The government’s recent announcement that the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana which provides ₹5,000 for first child will be extended to cover the second child only if it is a girl has met with sharp criticism from activists who have demanded that it be universalised.

DETAILS

WHAT IS PMMVY - Maternity Benefit Program

WHAT IT PROVIDES - Cash benefit of Rs. 5,000

CONDITION –

• For pregnant and lactating women
• Early registration of pregnancy
• Ante-natal check-up
• Registration of the birth of the child
• Completion of first cycle of vaccination for the first living child of the family

WHO ARE EXEMPTED

• Those in regular employment with the Central Government or State Government or Public Sector Undertaking
• Those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being in force.

WHEN WAS IT LAUNCHED – 2017

FUNDING

• Centrally Sponsored Scheme
• Cost sharing ratio between the Centre and the States & UTs
• 60:40 while for North-Eastern States & three Himalayan States
• 90:10 for others

ADDITIONAL INFO

• PMMVY is rechristened from erstwhile Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY). The IGMSY was launched in 2010
• 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
• Eligible beneficiaries also receive cash incentive under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). Thus, on an average, a woman gets Rs. 6,000.

MISSION SHAKTI:

As per WCD Ministry, Mission Shakti will consist of the schemes and policies for the empowerment and protection of women. The government has also allocated Rs. 3,109 crores for the scheme in the 2021-2022 budget.

The schemes covered under Mission Shakti will be:

• One-Stop Centre

• Mahila Police Volunteer

• Beti Bachao Beti Padhao

• Women’s helpline

• Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

NEWS

The Kawal Tiger Reserve is going to host its first ever ‘Bird Walk’

DETAILS

WHERE IS IT LOCATED : Adilabad district in Telangana state

PROTECTION STATUS :

• Established in 1965
• Declared as the Protected Area (PA) in 1999 under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• Declared as Tiger Reserve in 2012

FLORA: Dry Deciduous Teak Forests mixed with Bamboo.

FAUNA: Mammal species that have been sighted include tiger, leopard, gaur, cheetal, sambar, nilgai, barking deer, chowsingha, sloth bear.

OTHER DETAILS

• The River Kadam (a tributary of Godavari) flows through this area.
• The area is increasingly getting threatened by growing human encroachments, rampant poaching, illegal wood felling and habitat loss.

NEWS

The ASEAN-India High Level Conference on Renewable Energy was recently conducted.

DETAILS

ORGANIZED BY – Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Ministry of External Affairs of Government of India

THEME - “Experience and Innovations for Integrated Renewables Market”

TOPIC OF DISCUSSION - Renewable energy ambitions, progress made and priority areas for their countries and reiterated their commitment to taking India-ASEAN cooperation in the sector forward.

POINTS FOCUSSED - International Solar Alliance, “One Sun One World One Grid” initiative, Power Grid

ASEAN

FULL FORM  - Association of Southeast Asian Nations

ESTABLEISHED – 1967

BY- ASEAN Declaration / Bangkok Declaration

FOUNDING COUNTRIES - Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

WHY - Promote political and social stability amid rising tensions among the Asia-Pacific’s post-colonial states

MOTTO - “One Vision, One Identity, One Community”.

Secretariat – Jakarta, Indonesia

INSTITUTION MECHANISM

• Chairmanship of ASEAN rotates annually, based on the alphabetical order of the English names of Member States.
• ASEAN Summit: The supreme policy making body of ASEAN. As the highest level of authority in ASEAN, the Summit sets the direction for ASEAN policies and objectives. Under the Charter, the Summit meets twice a year.

• Santishree Dhulipudi Pandit, a political science professor at Savitribai Phule Pune Univer- sity, has been appointed as the first woman V-C of JNU.
• The Union government released the Central Media Accreditation Guidelines-2022, under which the accreditation will be withdrawn or suspended if a journalist acts in a manner prejudicial to the country’s security, sovereignty and integrity, friendly relations with foreign States, public order or is charged with a serious cognisable offence.
• The Railway Protection Force has launched a nationwide operation to curb human trafficking. As part of “Operation AAHT”, special teams will be deployed on all long-distance trains/routes with focus on rescuing victims, particularly women and children, from the clutches of traffickers. As part of “Operation AAHT”, the infrastructure and intelligence network of the force could be utilised to collect, collate and analyse clues on victims, source, route, destination, popular trains used by suspects, identity of carriers/agents, kingpins etc and shared with other law-enforcing agencies.
• Kerala Governor gave his assent for the controversial ordinance to amend the Kerala Lokayukta Act 1999. With this amendment, the state government would have the power to “either accept or reject the verdict of the Lokayukta after an opportunity of being heard”.
• 7 Bravehearts of Railway Protection Force (Indian Railway) to be conferred with Jeevan Raksha Padak Series of Awards 2021. The Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak is awarded to members of the armed forces, police, or fire services in addition to civilians in recognition to their conspicuous acts of valor beyond the course of their duty running grave risks to their own lives leading to saving precious lives. The award carries a medal, a certificate and a cash reward of Rs. 2 (two) lakhs.