Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS/Civil Services

Table of Contents

Prime Minister

• Expressed strong disapproval of incidents of toppling of statues in some states.
• Mr Modi spoke to Home Minister Rajnath Singh over the issue.
• The Home Minister has appealed to political parties to ask their workers not to indulge in vandalism of statues, saying prompt action should be taken against the culprits.
• Mr. Singh said, vandalising statues of great men can never be justified.
•Home Ministry has a second advisory to the States asking them to make District Magistrates and Senior Superintendents of Police personally responsible for ensuring that the law and order situation remains firmly under control in their jurisdiction.
• The states have been advised to intensify patrolling in sensitive locations and community policing for peace and harmony.

Parliamentary-

• Proceedings in both the Houses of Parliament were stalled for the third day today as the Congress-led Opposition created ruckus over several issues, bank fraud cases.
• TDP and YSR Congress demanded a special status for Andhra Pradesh.
• Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has appealed to all political parties to sit together and find a solution to continuing logjam in the House.

Finance Minister

• Arun Jaitley today said, the Centre is committed to give Andhra Pradesh a financial assistance equivalent to a special category state.
• Mr Jaitley said he agreed with the assessment that Andhra Pradesh is financially suffering after Telangana was carved out of the state.
•Union government will honour every commitment made by the Centre at the time of bifurcation of the state.

Union Cabinet

• The Union Cabinet has approved 2% Dearness Allowance (DA) to Central government employees.
• The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi today.
• The Cabinet gave its nod to release an additional installment of DA to central government employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners with effect from 1st of January this year to compensate for price rise.

Union Cabinet –

• The decision will benefit about over 48 lakh Central Government employees and over 61 lakh pensioners.
• The combined impact on the exchequer on account of both DA and Dearness Relief would be over 6 thousand 77 crore rupees per annum.

Karnataka Lokayukta

• Justice Vishvanath Shetty was stabbed multiple times in his office in Bengaluru today.
• Police have arrested the assailant, Tej Raj Sharma.
•He had come to meet the Lokayukta to discuss his case.
• Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said Justice Shetty is out of danger Karnataka Lokayukta-
• Smriti Irani has said that the strength of women should be celebrated everyday and not only on a particular occasion like International Women’s Day.
• On the eve of International Women’s Day, Ms Irani said, women have the ability to lead the nation and to bring a change in the society.
• This is a day to recognise the contributions of women in different facets of life, whether personal or professional. India’s women have succeeded admirably in their endeavours,
often in the face of formidable challenges. They are a source of inspiration for their families and for our society and nation. Eve of Women’s Day
•”The famous words of Mahatma Gandhi ji –“ Be the change you want to see in the world” are probably more relevant today than ever before.
• Many issues concerning women get highlighted today. But two things which I feel should receive renewed focus are gender equality and safety of women.
• We all have to act collectively to raise awareness against discrimination of the girl child.
• Every household, neighborhood, school, institutions and community should start gender-sensitization.
• The mindset to respect girls and women should be promoted at home and in schools, public areas, public transport and at every place and every stage.
• Observations of former President Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam, who had said : “if a country is to be corruption free and become a nation of beautiful minds, I strongly feel there are three key
societal members who can make a difference. They are the father, the mother and the teacher.”

Ministry of Defence-

• A Committee of Experts (CoE) was constituted by Ministry of Defence under the Chairmanship of Lt. Gen. (Retd) DB Shekatkar to recommend measures to enhance combat capability and rebalance defence expenditure of the armed forces.
• The Committee submitted its report in December 2016.
• Optimization of Signals Establishments to include Radio Monitoring Companies, Corps Air Support Signal Regiments, Air Formation Signal Regiments, Composite Signal Regiments and
merger of Corps Operating and Engineering Signal Regiments.
Ministry of Defence-
• Restructuring of repair echelons in the Army to include Base Workshops, Advance Base Workshops and Static / Station Workshops in the field Army.
• Redeployment of Ordnance echelons to include Vehicle Depots, Ordnance Depots and Central Ordnance Depots apart from streamlining inventory control mechanisms.
• Better utilization of Supply and Transportation echelons and Animal Transport Units.
• Closure of Military Farms and Army Postal Establishments in peace locations.
• Enhancement in standards for recruitment of clerical staff and drivers in the Army.
•Improving the efficiency of the National Cadet Corp

NITI Aayog

• NITI Aayog, the premier think tank of the country will launch its Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) on 8th March tomorrow, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day.
1. Promote women entrepreneurship by collaborating with various partner organisations
2. Provide industry linkages & partner support to women entrepreneurs Increase the visibility of existing schemes, programmes & services across government and private sectors
3. Identify and address issues and bottlenecks through appropriate channels
4. Develop a national database through a centralised portal for registration of women entrepreneurs
5. Provide evidence-based policy recommendations to develop a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem