30 Dec 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

December 30th, 2020, PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Light House Projects
2. PRAGATI
3. Subhas Chandra Bose
4. Akash Missile System
5. MoU between Bhutan and India
6. Industrial Corridor nodes at Krishnapatnam and Tumakuru
7. SAHAYAK-NG
8. Ease of doing business reforms
9. Kala Azar in India
10. Swachh Swasth Sarvatra
11. E-committee of Supreme Court gets award
12. INSACOG

1. Light House Projects

Context:

PM to lay Foundation Stone of Light House Projects under GHTC-India in January 2021.

Details:

Know more about the Light House Projects under GHTC – India in PIB dated Nov 25, 2019.

Related information:

ASHA-India

• Affordable Sustainable Housing Accelerators – India (ASHA-India) aims to promote domestic research and entrepreneurship by providing incubation and acceleration support to potential future technologies.
• Under ASHA-India initiative, five ASHA-India Centres have been set up for providing incubation and acceleration support.
• The technologies, processes and materials identified through this initiative will provide a major fillip to young creative minds, start-ups, innovators and entrepreneurs.

PMAY-U Mission

• Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana – Urban (PMAY-U) Mission has been designed to achieve the vision of “Housing For All by 2022”.
• It was launched in 2015.
• The scheme provides central assistance to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) and other implementing agencies through States/UTs.
• The programme has 4 verticals:
  • Credit Link Subsidy Scheme (CLSS)
  • In-situ rehabilitation of existing slum dwellers using land as a resource through private participation
  • Affordable Housing in Partnership (AHP)
  • Subsidy for beneficiary led individual house construction/enhancement

2. PRAGATI

Context:

PM chairs 34^th PRAGATI interaction.

Know more about PRAGATI in the linked article.

3. Subhas Chandra Bose

Context:

75^th Anniversary of tricolour hoisting at Port Blair.

Details:

• On 30^th December 1943, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had unfurled the Tricolour at Port Blair.

Read all about Subhas Chandra Bose and his contribution to the Indian independence movement in the linked article.

4. Akash Missile System

Context:

Cabinet approves the export of Akash Missile System.

Details:

• The Cabinet also creates a committee for the faster approval of exports.
  • It would authorise the subsequent exports of major indigenous platforms to various countries.
  • The Committee would also explore various available options including the Government-to-Government route.
• Akash is a Surface to Air Missile with a range of 25 km. The missile was inducted in 2014 into the Indian Air Force and in 2015 into the Indian Army.

Read more about the Surface to Air Missile in the linked article

5. MoU between Bhutan and India

Context:

Cabinet approves MoU between India and Bhutan on cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

Details:

• The MoU had been signed between both countries in November 2020.
• The MoU shall enable India and Bhutan to pursue cooperation in potential interest areas, such as remote sensing of the earth; satellite communication and satellite-based navigation; space science and planetary exploration; use of spacecraft and space systems and ground system; and application of space technology.

6. Industrial Corridor nodes at Krishnapatnam and Tumakuru

Context:

Cabinet approves Industrial Corridor nodes at Krishnapatnam and Tumakuru under CBIC.

Details:

The cabinet has approved proposals of the Department of Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT) for the construction of various trunk infrastructure components for:

1. Krishnapatnam Industrial Area in Andhra Pradesh
2. Tumakuru Industrial Area in Karnataka
3. Multi Modal Logistics Hub (MMLH) and Multi Modal Transport Hub (MMTH) at Greater Noida in Uttar Pradesh

Industrial Corridors

• In November 2019, the government had approved the creation of five industrial corridor projects to be implemented through the National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT).
• The Krishnapatnam Industrial Area and the Tumakuru Industrial Area are under the Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC).
• These greenfield industrial cities will be self-sustained with world-class infrastructure, road and rail connectivity for freight movement to and from ports and logistic hubs along with reliable power and quality social infrastructure.
• The five industrial corridors are:
  • Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) – Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra
  • Amritsar Kolkata Industrial Corridor (AKIC) – Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal
  • Chennai Bengaluru Industrial Corridor (CBIC) – Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala
  • East Coast Economic Corridor (ECEC) with Vizag Chennai Industrial Corridor (VCIC) as Phase – 1 – West Bengal, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu
  • Bengaluru Mumbai Industrial Corridor (BMIC) – Karnataka, Maharashtra

Multi Modal Logistics Hub (MMLH) & Multi Modal Transport Hub (MMTH) Projects

• These projects are in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.
• Multi Modal Logistics Hub (MMLH)
  • Logistics Hub project will be developed as a world-class facility that will provide efficient storage/transitioning of goods to/from the Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) and offer a one-stop destination to freight companies and customers.
  • The facility will not only provide standard container handling activities but also provide various value-added services to reduce logistics cost with improved efficiency of operations.
• Multi Modal Transport Hub (MMTH)
  • This will act as a transport hub with provisioning of Rail, Road and MRTS accessibility for the passengers in a seamless manner.
  • MMTH will have space for Inter State Bus Terminal (ISBT), Local Bus Terminal (LBT), Metro, commercial, retail & hotel space and green open spaces.
  • The project will provide world-class passenger movement facilities for the growing population of the catchment zone catering to upcoming developments in U.P. sub-region of the NCR and thus, decongest Delhi.
  • It is estimated to generate employment for 1 lakh persons by 2040.

7. SAHAYAK-NG

Context:

Maiden test flight of SAHAYAK-NG.

About SAHAYAK-NG:

• SAHAYAK-NG is India’s first indigenously designed and developed Air Droppable Container.
• It is an advanced version of SAHAYAK Mk I. It is a GPS aided air dropped container with the capacity to carry a payload of up to 50 kg and can be dropped from a heavy aircraft.
• The successful maiden test was conducted by the DRDO along with the Indian Navy.
• The container was dropped from IL 38SD aircraft (of the Indian Navy) off the coast of Goa during the test flight.
• The trial was conducted by the Navy to enhance its operational logistics capabilities and provide critical engineering stores to ships which are deployed more than 2000 km from the coast.
• It reduces the requirement of ships to come close to the coast to collect spares and stores.

8. Ease of doing business reforms

Context:

Odisha becomes the 7^th state to complete ease of doing business reforms.

Details:

• Odisha has become the 7^th state in the country to successfully undertake “Ease of Doing Business” reform stipulated by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.
• Thus, the State has become eligible to mobilise additional financial resources of Rs. 1,429 crore through Open Market Borrowings.
• Odisha has now joined the six other states namely, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, who have completed this reform.

Background:

• The ease of doing business is an important indicator of the investment friendly business climate in the country.
• Improvements in the ease of doing business will enable faster future growth of the state economy.
• Therefore, the government of India had in May 2020, decided to link the grant of additional borrowing permissions to states who undertake the reforms to facilitate ease of doing business.
• The reforms stipulated in this category are:
  • Completion of first assessment of ‘District Level Business Reform Action Plan’
  • Elimination of the requirements of renewal of registration certificates/approvals/licences obtained by businesses under various Acts.
  • Implementation of computerized central random inspection system under the Acts wherein allocation of inspectors is done centrally, the same inspector is not assigned to the same unit in subsequent years, prior inspection notice is provided to the business owner, and inspection report is uploaded within 48 hours of inspection.
• To meet the challenges posed by the pandemic, GOI had enhanced the borrowing limit of the states by 2 percent of their GSDP.
• Half of this special dispensation was linked to undertaking citizen centric reforms by the states.
• The four citizen centric areas for reforms identified were:
  • Implementation of One Nation One Ration Card System (done by 10 states)
  • Ease of doing business reform (done by 7 states)
  • Urban Local body/utility reforms (done by 2 states)
  • Power sector reforms

9. Kala Azar in India

• Kala Azar is endemic in 54 districts in four states in India namely, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh.

Read more about the disease Kala Azar in PIB dated June 24, 2020.

10. Swachh Swasth Sarvatra

• It is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare and the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
• It was launched in 2016 to achieve better health outcomes through improved sanitation and increase awareness on healthy lifestyle.
• Under this, a one-time grant of Rs. 10 lakh is provided to the non-Kayakalp awardee community health centre (CHC) located in the ODF block.
  • Kayakalp is an award given to public health facilities for contribution towards the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
• The grant is provided with the intention that the resource would help the CHC become a Kayakalp awardee.

11. E-committee of Supreme Court gets award

Context:

E-committee of the Supreme Court of India conferred with the Platinum Award for Excellence in Digital Governance by the President of India.

Details:

• E-Courts project envisioned and implemented by the e-Committee, Supreme Court of India along with the Department of Justice and the NIC (National Information Centre) is a Mission Mode Project of the Indian Government.
• Citizens can access case status, causelist court orders anywhere, any time through e-courts services website, mobile app, SMS, email services from the 3293 court complexes.
• People can also get the details of more than 13 crore cases, court orders and judgements free of cost and available 24×7.

During the COVID pandemic, more than 55 lakh cases were heard by courts through video conferencing using the digital infrastructure provided by the e-courts project pan India making Indian courts a global leader in conducting cases through VC.

12. INSACOG

Context:

Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG) launched.

About Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG):

• The government has launched the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Consortia (INSACOG), comprising 10 labs spread across India.
• The overall aim of the Indian SARS-CoV-2 Genomics Consortium is to monitor the genomic variations in the SARS-CoV-2 on a regular basis through a multi-laboratory network.
• This vital research consortium will also assist in developing potential vaccines in the future.
• The consortium will ascertain the status of new variant of SARS-CoV-2 (SARS-CoV-2 VUI 202012/01) in the country, establish a sentinel surveillance for early detection of genomic variants with public health implication, and determine the genomic variants in the unusual events/trends (super-spreader events, high mortality/morbidity trend areas, etc.).

Read previous PIB here.

December 30th, 2020, PIB:- Download PDF Here