Press Information Bureau UPSC– 10th Novmber 2017

Health Ministry

• Today is World Immunization Day.
• This day is celebrated to make people aware about the importance of getting timely vaccinations against vaccine preventable diseases.
• Health and Family Welfare Minister JP Nadda said to achieve the goal of complete immunization, vaccination under Intensified Mission Indradhanush is going on in full swing.
• Launched: December 2014.

Aims/Goals

A. To achieve full immunization coverage for all children in India.
B. The ultimate goal of this program is ensure that all children of up to two years and pregnant women are vaccinated.
C. 4 lakh children and 3 lakh women have been vaccinated only in October this year.

World Health Organization

• Immunization is a proven tool for controlling and eliminating life-threatening infections disease and is estimated to avert between 2 and 3 million deaths each year.
• But the report says, an estimated 18.7 million infants worldwide are still missing out on basic vaccines.

Union Cabinet

• The Union Cabinet today approved appointment of the second National Judicial Pay Commission for Subordinate Judiciary in the country.
• The Commission will be chaired by Justice (Retd) J P.Venkatrama Reddi.
• It will make its recommendations to the states preferably within 18 months.
• It will examine the present structure of emoluments and conditions of service of Judicial Officers in the States and Union Territories.
• The Commission also aims at making the pay scales and conditions of service of Judicial Officers uniform throughout the country.
• The Cabinet also approved the creation of National Testing Agency (NTA) as an autonomous and self-sustained premier organization to conduct entrance examinations for higher educational institutions.
  • The NTA chaired by an eminent educationist will initially conduct those entrance examinations which are currently being conducted by the CBSE.
  • Other examinations will be taken up gradually after the NTA is fully geared up.
  • The entrance examinations will be conducted in online mode at least twice a year.

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

• Indian candidate Dalveer Bhandari and Britain’s Christopher Greenwood are locked in a neck-and-neck fight for re-election to the ICJ.
• The 193 assembly members and 15 council members will reconvene on Monday for deciding between Dalveer Bhandari and Greenwood.
• In the sixth round for the final judge seat yesterday, Bhandari won 115 votes in the General Assembly to Greenwood’s 76.
• But at the Security Council the result was reversed, necessitating another round of voting.
• As per the United Nation’s ICJ election rules, candidates must obtain a majority of 97 votes in the Assembly and eight in the Security Council.
• Both elections are held simultaneously but independently of each other.

International News

• UAE, Saudi and Kuwait have advised its citizens against traveling to Lebanon amidst rising regional tension between Riyadh and Tehran over Yemen and the Lebanon issue.
• A statement from the  Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation urged the UAE citizens to avoid travelling to Lebanon either from UAE or from any other country while Saudi Arabia urged its citizens to leave Lebanon “as soon as possible”, days after Lebanese prime minister Saad Al Hariri announced his sudden resignation while visiting the Saudi kingdom.

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