Daily PIB Analysis For UPSC/IAS | 5th Feb 19

Table of Contents

Ministry of Culture

President of India to confer Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the Year 2017
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind will be conferring the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards 2017 at Rashtrapati Bhawan in a special investiture ceremony, tomorrow.
The General Council of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India at its meeting held on 8 June 2018 in Imphal (Manipur) had selected forty-two (42) artists from the field of Music, Dance, Theatre, Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/Dance/Theatre, Puppetry and Overall contribution/scholarship in the Performing Arts for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards (Akademi Puraskar) for the year 2017. These forty-two (42) artists include one joint award.
In the field of Music, eleven eminent artists, In the Field of Dance, nine eminent artists have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2017
In the field of Theatre, nine eminent artists have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2017
In the field of Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/Dance/Theatre and Puppetry, ten artists have been selected for the Akademi Awards 2017
Vijay Verma and Sandhya Purecha have been selected for the Akademi Award 2017 in the field of Overall Contribution/Scholarship in the Performing Arts.
The honour of Akademi Award has been conferred since 1952. These honours not only symbolize the highest standard of excellence and achievements, but also recognize sustained individual work and contribution.
The honour of Akademi Award carries with it Rs 1,00,000/(Rupees one lakh), besides a Tamrapatra and Angavastram.

Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs

Shehri Samridhi Utsav Launched Shehri Samridhi Utsav, an initiative of Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA),aims to extend the outreach of Deendayal Antyodaya Mission – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM), to the most vulnerable, showcase its initiatives and facilitate access of Self-Help Group (SHG) members to the other government schemes. This was launched across the country earlier this week.
Day one of Shehri Samriddhi Utsav began with a series of rallies led by women’s’ SHGs, across the length and breadth of the country. These rallies spread awareness about DAY-NULM in urban poor communities. Job melas and fairs to market the products made by women microentrepreneurs were also organized by many states, and will continue over the next two weeks.

Through Shehri Samridhi Utsav,

SHG members across cities are being linked to national government schemes viz.
Swachchh Bharat Mission (U),
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (U),
Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana,
Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana,
Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana,
Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana and
National Nutrition Mission.

Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas

Sh Dharmendra Pradhan says that our Government remains committed to inclusive, holistic and sustainable high economic growth Inaugurating the WLPGA 2019 Asia LPG Summit here today, he said that with strong economy and supportive policy environment, Our Government remains committed to inclusive, holistic and sustainable high economic growth. As a welfare state, we are committed to provide basic necessities of life to the last person standing. Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana is a programme to provide affordable house to all by 2022, each of which will have toilet, electricity connection, LPG, drinking water, and bank account under the Jan Dhan Yojana.
The Minister said that Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY), which was launched in May 2016 with a target of 5 crore of deposit free LPG connections, has already covered over 6 crore vulnerable, disadvantaged sections of the society, and it will cover 8 crore by next financial year. He said that PMUY is now a universal scheme, covering all poor households. Appreciating the collective efforts of all the stakeholders, Shri Pradhan said that LPG connections are now available to 90% population which was just about 55% in 2014. The Minister said that India has become the second largest importer of LPG. The successful implementation of PMUY has been hailed by various multilateral agencies and developed nations, and has set an example for the developing countries The Minister talked of Ujjwala Panchayats in which 10 million beneficiaries have participated so far, and which focusses on safety, sharing of experiences and provides valuable feedback. He said that the Government has implemented PAHAL, the largest DBT scheme through which one lakh crore rupees have been transferred. Sh Pradhan said that the Prime Minister launched Giveitup, which inspired people to take part wholeheartedly in giving up subsidies, and the savings were used for developmental activities.

Ministry of Defence

Report of Shekatkar Committee
The Committee of Experts (CoE) constituted by the 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, submitted its report in December 2016.
The Report was taken up by the Ministry of Defence to frame key action points and roadmap for implementation. Measures as recommended by the Committee and taken up for implementation include:
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.
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 Corps.

Ministry of Human Resource Development

Scholarships for Girls to encourage better education and career opportunities The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of School Education and Literacy is implementing ‘National Scheme of Incentive to Girls for Secondary Education (NSIGSE)’. The objective of the scheme is to establish an enabling environment to reduce the drop outs and to promote the enrolment of girl child belonging to SC/ST communities in secondary schools and ensure their retention up to the 18 years of age.
The scheme covers (i) all girls belonging to SC/ST communities who pass class VIII and (ii) all girls who pass class VIII examination from Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (irrespective of whether they belong to SC/ ST) and enroll in class IX in State/ UT Government, Governmentaided and Local Body schools. According to the scheme, an amount of Rs.3000/- is deposited in the name of eligible unmarried girls as fixed deposit on enrolment in class IX, who are entitled to withdraw it along with interest thereon reaching on 18 years of age and passing class 10th class examination. The scheme is covered under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Scheme. The scheme is on-boarded on National Scholarship Portal (NSP) since 2015-16.
The Central board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is implementing Merit Scholarship Schemes for single girl child to provide scholarships to the meritorious Single Girl Students, who are the only child of their parents.
It provide Rupees Five Hundred (Rs.500/‐) per month to Single Girl Child who is pursuing further studies for class XI & XII and have passed the CBSE class Xth exam with 60% / 6.2 CGPA or more marks/grades.
The Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education is implementing the Central Sector Scheme of Scholarship for College and University Students since 2008.
Under the scheme, financial assistance is provided to meritorious students whose family income of less than Rs.8 lakhs per annum for pursuing higher studies. The scheme envisages 82000 fresh scholarships award of every year, of which 50% is earmarked for girls.
The University Grant Commission (UGC) is implementing the scheme of Post Graduate Indira Gandhi Scholarship for Single Girl Child since 2006 for providing financial assistance to selected students for pursuing Post-Graduation in Universities/Institutions/Colleges in India.
This scheme has been on boarded on National Scholarship Portal (NSP) since 2017-18. Apart from the above, the UGC is also implementing the schemes namely 1) Swami Vivekananda Single Girl Child Fellowship for Research in Social Sciences. 2) Post-Doctoral fellowship for Women for providing financial assistance to selected candidates for pursuing research / higher research on full time/regular basis in University/Institute/Colleges in India.
The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is implementing “Pragati Scholarship Scheme for Girls Student” to provide assistance for advancement of girl’s participation in Technical Education.
Under the scheme, 4000 scholarships are granted annually on “one girl, per family” basis where the family income is Rs.6 Lakhs/ annum or less.
The candidates should have been admitted to 1st year of the Degree or Diploma programme in any of the AICTE approved institute during the academic year 2015- 16 through centralized admission process of the State/ Centre Government.
The candidates are selected on merit at the qualifying examination to pursue technical education from amongst such candidates. Tuition Fee of Rs.30000/- or at actual, whichever is less and Rs.2000/- per month for 10 months as incidentals each year is provided under the scheme as financial assistance.

Ministry of Human Resource Development

Digitalisationof Schools across the country
The Central Government has launched an Integrated Scheme for school education- Samagra Shiksha, which subsumes the three erstwhile Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) , Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education, from the year 2018-19. Under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme of Samagra Shiksha, Information & Communication Technology (ICT) component envisages covering all Government and Government Aided schools from classes VI to XII, subject to the availability of budgetary provision, progress of approved interventions and receipt of proposals from the States/UTs. So far, about 1,79,498 upper primary, secondary & senior secondary schools have been approved for coverage under ICT component of the respective schemes. Further, the Government has undertaken various initiatives for providing education through digital means such as:
ICT in Education Curriculum for School System – ICT curriculum for teachers and students has been developed by NCERT. Students’ curriculum was piloted in 588 Navodaya Vidyalayas for one year
E-pathshala – e-pathshala has been developed by NCERT (National Council for Educational Research and Training) for showcasing and disseminating all educational e-resources including textbooks, audio, video, periodicals and a variety of other print and non-print materials
National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) The National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER) is an initiative to bring together all digital and digitisable resources across all stages of school education and teacher education. So far, 13635 files including 401 collections, 2722 documents, 565 interactive, 1664 audios, 2581 images and 6105 videos have been made available over the portal. States/ UTs are motivated to contribute resources on NROER and create OERs for their own State/ UT.