Arts and Culture - CivilServiceIndia...Nearly 25 years before the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre (1919), more than a hundred peasants fell to the bullets of the British. These unarmed

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Arts and Culture

Patharughat Uprising in Assam:

Nearly 25 years before the Jallianwallah

Bagh massacre (1919), more than a hundred

peasants fell to the bullets of the British on

January 28, 1894 in Patharighat, previously

known as Patharughat in Assam.

Nearly 25 years before the Jallianwallah

Bagh massacre (1919), more than a hundred

peasants fell to the bullets of the British.

These unarmed peasants were protesting in

Patharughat against the increase in land

revenue levied by the colonial

administration, when the military opened

fire.

After the British annexation of Assam in

1826, surveys of the vast lands of the state

began. On the basis of such surveys, the

British began to impose land taxes. In 1893,

the British government decided to increase

agricultural land tax reportedly by 70-80%

much to the resentment of the farmers.

Previously the peasants would pay taxes in

kind or provide a service in lieu of cash.

As a result, peasants began protesting the

British move of increasing taxes by

organising Raij Mels, or peaceful peoples’

conventions across Assam.

The British authorities began to view the

peasant protests and gatherings as grounds

for sedition.

On 28 January 1894, when the British

officers were refusing to listen to the

farmers’ grievances, things heated up and

there was a lathi charge, followed by an

open firing which killed around 140

peasants (according to unofficial sources)

who were gathered at Patharughat, a small

village nearly 60km northeast of Guwahati.

Patharighat is known as Assam's

Jallianwala Bagh. Since 2000, the army has

been paying homage to the martyrs in full

military honour on 29 January every year

and has also set up martyrs' column in

memory of those killed.

Every year the, on 28 January the

government and local people pay respects

to the martyrs of the incident. This day is

observed as Krishak Swahid Diwas.

Recently, Assam chief Minister Sarbananda

Sonowal on January 28, 2021 attended the

Krishak Swahid Diwas where he offered

floral tributes to farmer martyrs of the

historic Patharughat uprising. On the

occasion, the chief minister felicitated

progressive farmers of the state for their

contribution to the agricultural sector.

Assam CM also inaugurated an Integrated

Training and Skill Development Centre for

the farmers near the site that will be

equipped to teach farmers new skills and

technology.

Assam: Assam is a state in northeastern

India known for its wildlife, archeological

sites and tea plantations. It is situated

south of the eastern Himalayas along the

Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys.

Assam is known for Assam tea and Assam

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silk. The state was the first site for oil

drilling in Asia. Its capital is Dispur. The

current Governor and the Chief Minister of

Assam are Professor Jagdish Mukhi and

Sarbananda Sonowal respectively.

Jail Tourism of Maharashtra:

The Prison Department of Maharashtra

launched its jail tourism initiative, starting

with more than 150-year-old Yerawada

Central Prison in Pune. The jail tourism

initiative was inaugurated by Maharashtra

Chief Minister Uddhav Balasaheb

Thackeray on January 26, 2021 on the

occasion of 72nd Republic Day.

The initiative was launched in a move to

help students learn about historical

experiences.

Yerawada Jail: Yerawada jail was

constructed in 1866, and is the largest jail

in Maharashtra. It is one of the largest

maximum security prisons in the country.

This 150 years old jail is where several

freedom fighters, including Mahatma

Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sarojini

Naidu, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Lokmanya

Tilak and Subhas Chandra Bose were

imprisoned.

Historical Significance: Mahatma Gandhi

was imprisoned at Yerawada jail three

times — from March 1922 to February 1924,

from January 1932 to May 1933, and for

three days in August 1933. The cell where

Mahatma Gandhi was lodged is called the

Gandhi Yard. The historic Poona Pact

between Gandhi and Dr Babasaheb

Ambedkar was signed within the premises.

The visitors will also get to see the faasi

yard, the area where the death sentence is

executed.

Faasi yard is the place where Chapekar

brothers were executed in 1899 for the

assassination of British Plague

Commissioner of Pune WC Rand.

The last execution that the faasi yard

witnessed was in November 2012 of Ajmal

Kasab, a convict of 26/11 attacks, who was

buried inside the prison premises.

Note: There are 16 functioning prisons in

Maharashtra.

They were built in the 19th century.

The oldest jail is the Byculla District

Prison in Mumbai which started in 1840.

Maharashtra: Maharashtra is a state in the

western peninsular region of India

occupying a substantial portion of the

Deccan Plateau.

It was formed on 1 May 1960 by merging

the western and south-western parts of the

Bombay State, Berar and Vidarbha, and the

north-western parts of the Hyderabad State

and splitting Saurashtra (in present-day

Gujarat) by the States Reorganisation Act.

Its capital is Mumbai. The Chief Minister

and the Governor of Maharashtra are

Uddhav Thackeray and Bhagat Singh

Koshyari respectively.

It is famous for its caves and rock-cut

architecture as in Ajanta Ellora Caves that

is also one of the UNESCO as World

Heritage Site.

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Bharat Parv 2021:

The Bharat Parv 2021, a festival to

celebrate the spirit of India was recently

organized from 26th January till 31st of

January.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inaugurated

‘Bharat Parv-2021’ organised by the

Ministry of Tourism. The festival was

organized on a virtual platform

www.bharatparv2021.com. due to the

ongoing circumstances created by the

COVID-19 pandemic, this year.

It is being organized with the overall theme

focusing on the Aatmanirbhar Bharat and

Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat.

Ministry of Tourism reserved three virtual

pavilions, Dekho Apna Desh, Statue of

Unity, and Incredible India.

In addition to that, the Bharat Parv 2021

showcased other pavilions, including

Central Ministries, State themed pavilions,

food festival/studio kitchen from various

states and UTs, handicrafts, handlooms,

folk performances, performances by

cultural troupes from different states and

Union Territories, etc.

Background: Bharat Parv is a festival to

celebrate spirit of India. This event is being

celebrated as part of Republic Day

celebrations since 2016.

The mega event is organized with an aim

to generate patriotic fervour and showcase

the rich and varied cultural diversity of the

country.

The event is organized in front of the

ramparts of the Red Fort on the occasion of

Republic Day Celebrations.

The handicrafts, music, dance, handlooms,

paintings, literary material and other

features from across the country are

showcased at the event.

It is organized by the Ministry of Tourism

in collaboration with other ministries such

as Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Ayush,

media units of I & B Ministry, Ministry of

Railways, Ministry of Consumer Affairs,

Archaeological Survey of India, Lalit Kala

Academy, National Museum, National

Gallery of Modern Arts, Khadi & Village

Industries Commission.

Kala Utsav 2020:

The Ministry of Education recently

organized the Kala Utsav 2020 annual

event to promote the development of arts

in education.

At the event, the Union education minister

Ramesh Pokhriyal addressed the

valedictory function of Kala Utsav on

January 28, and lauded the introduction of

indigenous toys and games for promoting

the ‘vocal for local’ initiative.

Background: Kala Utsav is an initiative of

the Ministry of Education (MoE) to

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Defence

National

50 New Kendriya

promote the development of arts in

education.

Kala Utsav 2020 was launched online on 10

January 2021 through a digital platform.

The Indigenous Toys and Games segment

was introduced in Kala Utsav 2020.

It keeps pace with the recommendations of

the National Education Policy 2020, which

emphasizes the promotion of art and

culture through education.

Kala Utsav National Competition was

launched in 2015.

The programme was initiated by Rashtriya

Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and

has now been merged with other schemes

under the "Samagra Shiksha- an integrated

scheme for School Education".

Kala Utsav aims to cultivate and showcase

the artistic talents of secondary stage

school students in the country.

Children with special needs too will have

the opportunity to display their talents.

It also plays an important role in raising

awareness of India’s rich cultural heritage

and its vibrant diversity with 'Ek Bharat

Shreshtha Bharat' effect.

The other initiatives taken for promoting

arts are - Kala Sanskriti Vikas Yojana

(Ministry of Culture) and Scheme for

Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural

Heritage (Ministry of Culture).

IN FAC T-81:

It refers to the Indian Naval Fast Attack

Craft T-81. The IN FAC T-81 of the Super

Dvora MK II class, was decommissioned on

28 January 2021 at Naval Dockyard,

Mumbai after having served the nation for

more than 20 years.

Rear Admiral V Srinivas, Flag Officer

Commanding Maharashtra Naval Area was

the Chief Guest on the occasion.

IN FAC T-81: It is a 25 meters long vessel

with 60 tonnes displacement built at Goa

Shipyard Ltd in collaboration with M/s

Ramta of Israel. She was commissioned

into the Indian Navy in 1999.

The ship, specially designed for shallow

waters, could achieve speeds up to 45 knots

and had the capability of day/night

surveillance and reconnaissance, Search &

Rescue, beach insertion, extraction of

Marine Commandoes and high speed

interception of intruder craft.

The ship’s crest depicts a Blue and Black

‘Sea Horse’ with the characteristic curved

tail against a Blue background.

This has relevance to Indian mythology,

where it is identified as Lord Varun’s

‘Vahana’. The ship has proudly lived up to

her motto ‘First Fast Fearless’.

Gallantry Awards:

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The President of India Ram Nath Kovind

recently approved awards of 455 Gallantry

and other Defence decorations to Armed

Forces personnel and others on the eve of

72nd Republic Day celebrations.

These include

▪ 1 Mahavir Chakra

▪ 5 Kirti Chakras

▪ 5 Vir Chakras

▪ 7 Shaurya Chakras

▪ 4 Bar to Sena Medal (Gallantry)

▪ 130 Sena Medal (Gallantry)

▪ 1 Nao Sena Medal (Gallantry)

▪ 4 Vayu Sena Medal (Gallantry)

▪ 30 Param VishishtSeva Medal

(PVSM)

▪ 4 UttamYudhSeva Medal (UYSM)

▪ 51 AtiVishishtSeva Medal (AVSM)

▪ 11 YudhSeva Medal (YSM)

▪ 3 Bar to Sena Medal (Devotion to

Duty)

▪ 3 Sena Medal (Devotion to Duty)

including 02 COVID Warriors,

▪ 8 Nao Sena Medal (Devotion to Du-

ty)

▪ 14 Vayu Sena Medal (Devotion to

Duty)

▪ 3 Bar to VishishtSeva Medal (VSM)

including one COVID Warrior

▪ 131 VishishtSeva Medal (VSM) in-

cluding 12 COVID Warriors

Colonel B Santosh Babu, the Commanding

Officer of 16 Bihar Regiment, who lost his

life during the Galwan Valley clash last

year, will be posthumously awarded with

Maha Vir Chakra.

All the 20 soldiers who had died fighting

the Chinese troops in hand-to-hand

combat at Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh

on June 15, in which the Chinese had used

rods, batons wrapped with barbed wire and

other objects, have been awarded gallantry

awards posthumously.

The awards to these soldiers comprise 1

Maha Vir Chakra, 4 Vir Chakras and 15

Sena Medals. One soldier who survived the

clash has been awarded a Vir Chakra.

About the awards: These gallantry awards

are announced twice in a year. First, the

awards are on the occasion of the Republic

Day and then second, on the occasion of

the Independence Day.

The Order of precedence of these awards is

the Param Vir Chakra, the Ashoka Chakra,

the Mahavir Chakra, the Kirti Chakra, the

Vir Chakra and the Shaurya Chakra.

Background: Three gallantry awards

namely Param Vir Chakra, Maha Vir

Chakra and Vir Chakra were instituted by

the Government of India on 26th January,

1950.

Thereafter, other three gallantry awards i.e.

the Ashoka Chakra Class-I, the Ashoka

Chakra Class-II and the Ashoka Chakra

Class-III were instituted in 1952.

These awards were renamed as Ashoka

Chakra, Kirti Chakra and Shaurya Chakra

respectively in 1967.

PTM:

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It refers to the President’s Tatrakshak

Medal. President Ram Nath Kovind, on the

occassion of the 72nd Republic day 2021,

awarded President’s Tatrakshak Medal

(PTM) and Tatrakshak Medal (TM) to the

Indian Coast Guard (ICG) personnel for

their act of conspicuous gallantry and

distinguished/meritorious service.

President’s Tatrakshak Medal

(Distinguished Service)

▪ IG Dev Raj Sharma, TM (5015-V)

▪ IG Arun Shrivastav, TM (4025-V)

Tatrakshak Medal (Gallantry)

▪ DIG Anurag Kaushik (0428-V)

▪ Pratap Narayan, P/Adh(ME), 02433-

L

▪ Yaduraj Yadav, P/Adh(ME), 02497-

Z

▪ Ravi Kumar, U/Nvk(ME), 13104-M

Tatrakshak Medal (Meritorious Service)

▪ DIG Kailash Negi(0311-E

▪ Som Lal, P/Adh(RP), 00826-H

These awards are being given to the

personnel of Indian Coast Guard on

Republic Day and Independence Day every

year, since 26 Jan 1990 onwards.

AMPHEX – 21:

A large-scale tri-service joint amphibious

exercise AMPHEX – 21 was conducted in

Andaman & Nicobar group of islands from

21 to 25 Jan 2021.

The Naval ships, amphibious troops of the

Army and different types of aircraft from

the Air force participated in this exercise.

The main aim of this exercise is validating

India’s capabilities to safeguard the

territorial integrity of it’s island territories.

It also sought to enhance operational

synergy and joint war fighting capabilities

amongst the three Services.

The exercise involved multi-faceted

maritime operations by synergized

employment of amphibious assault ships,

surveillance platforms, execution of

maritime air strikes and complex

maneuvers at sea.

The Ex KAVACH for defence of Andaman

& Nicobar Islands formed a part of

AMPHEX – 21.

A joint intelligence, surveillance and

reconnaissance exercise under the aegis of

HQ Integrated Defence Staff was also run

concurrently to achieve Maritime Domain

Awareness by employment of a multitude

of sensors.

Bhawana Kanth:

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Economics

ironment

Flight lieutenant Bhawana Kanth created

history by becoming the first woman

fighter pilot to take part in the Republic

Day parade.

She was a part of the Indian Air Force's

(IAF's) tableau that showcased mock-ups

of the light combat aircraft, light combat

helicopter and the Sukhoi-30 fighter plane.

She is currently posted at an airbase in

Rajasthan where she flies the MiG-21 Bison

fighter plane.

Kanth is also one of the first women fighter

pilots in the IAF.

ICD:

It refers to the International Customs Day.

ICD is celebrated on 26 January globally

every year. It is the day designated to

honour the custom officials and agencies

for their function in taking care of the flow

of goods across the world borders. On this

day, members of the World Customs

Organization (WCO) also showcase their

efforts and activities.

The theme for 2021 as given by World

Customs Organization (WCO) is “Customs

bolstering Recovery, Renewal and

Resilience for a sustainable supply chain”.

In India, the Central Board of Indirect

Taxes and Customs (CBIC) observed the

International Customs Day, 2021.

The day celebrated the 30th anniversary of

the first CCC session. In 1994, the CCC was

renamed the WCO. Today, the WCO is the

only international body dedicated

exclusively to international customs and

border control matters.

It was on January 26, 1953 that the Customs

Cooperation Council (CCC) had held its

inaugural session in Brussels which was

attended by representatives from 17

European countries.

In 1983, the CCC created International

Customs Day.

In 1994, CCC was renamed as World

Customs Organization (WCO).

WCO: World Customs Organization

(WCO) is the only international body

looking after international customs and

matters concerning border control. It is

headquartered in Brussels, Belgium. WCO

currently has custom organizations from

182 countries as its members. More than

98% of world trade is administered by

WCO.

What is customs?

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Customs is the body in charge of tariffs

collection in a country. The flow of goods

(ranging from personal items, animals,

precarious objects) in and out of the

country is monitored by the customs. The

aim of this agency is to safely bridge gaps

while borders continue to demarcate. The

agencies believe that by lending support

and guidance to the customs

administration process, they connect

countries.

Customs management works towards

creating a sustainable future by facilitating

economic, social, environmental needs in

the process

CBIC: It is an acronym for the Central

Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. CBIC

is the nodal national agency responsible for

administering Customs, GST, Central

Excise, Service Tax and Narcotics in India.

It comes under the Department of

Revenue, Ministry of Finance. It was

founded on 1 January 1964. The current

CBIC is M. Ajit Kumar.

MSP for Copra:

The Cabinet Committee on Economic

Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime

Minister Narendra Modi recently gave its

approval for the Minimum Support Price

(MSP) of copra for 2021 season.

The MSPs was approved for for milling

copra and ball copra. The approval is based

on recommendations of the Commission

for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

The government has increased MSP for

Fair Average Quality (FAQ) of milling

copra by ₹375 from 2020. Thus, the Copra

would cost ₹10,335 per quintal and

contributes in boosting the farmers’

income. This hike in MSP for copra will be

impacting the farmers of 12 coastal states.

The cost of production for both the

variants of copra is Rs. 6,800 and the

government will be giving 52% and 55%

more than the cost of production.

The National Agricultural Cooperative

Marketing Federation of India Limited

(NAFED) and National Cooperative

Consumer Federation of India Limited

(NCCF) will continue to act as Central

Nodal Agencies to undertake price support

operations at the MSP in the coconut

growing States.

What is Copra?

Copra is the dried meat or kernel of the

coconut, which is the fruit of the coconut

palm (Cocos nucifera). Coconut oil is

extracted from copra, making it an

important agricultural commodity for

many coconut-producing countries.

Minimum support price (MSP):

The MSP is an agricultural product price

which is set by the Government of India

(GoI) to purchase the commodities directly

from the farmer. The MSP is not enforcable

by Law. MSP seeks to safeguard the farmer

interest by providing them a minimum

profit for their harvest in case the open

market has lesser price than the actual cost

incurred.

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The price of the 23 commodities is set by

the government twice a year.

The MSP is fixed based on the

recommendations of the Commission for

Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP).

CACP sets the price since 2009 on the basis

of cost of production, demand & supply,

price fluctuations, market price trends,

international market prices and

agricultural wage rate.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Skill

Development:

The Union Minister for Finance and

Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman

presented the Economic Survey 2020-21 in

Parliament on 29th January 2021. The

Economic Survey 2020-21 states that only

2.4% of the workforce of age 15-59 years

has received formal vocational/technical

training and another 8.9% of the workforce

received training through informal sources.

Key Highlights:

❖ Out of the 8.9% workforce who re-

ceived non-formal training, the

largest chunk is contributed by on-

the-job training (3.3 per cent), fol-

lowed by self-learning (2.5 per cent)

and hereditary sources (2.1 per

cent) and other sources (1 per cent).

❖ Among those who received formal

training, the most opted training

course is IT-ITeS among both males

and females.

❖ The Unified Skill Regulator- Na-

tional Council for Vocational Edu-

cation and Training (NCVET) was

operationalized recently.

❖ Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas

Yojana 3.0 was rolled out in 2020-21

with a tentative target to skill 8

lakh candidates including migrants.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Bare

Necessities:




Parliament on 29th January 2021. Economic

Survey 2020-21 constructs a Bare

Necessities Index (BNI) at the rural, urban

and all India level.

Key Highlights:

❖ The BNI summarizes 26 indicators

on five dimensions viz., water, sani-

tation, housing, micro-

environment, and other facilities.

❖ The BNI has been created for all

States for 2012 and 2018 using data

from two NSO rounds viz., 69th

and 76th on Drinking Water, Sani-

tation, Hygiene and Housing Con-

dition in India.

❖ In most of the States the access to

the Bare Necessities for the house-

hold in 2018 is significantly better

compared to 2012.

❖ Access to drinking water to house-

holds in most of the States has im-

proved in 2018 compared to 2012 in

rural as well as urban areas.

❖ Regional disparity in access to sani-

tation has declined as the States

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having low access to sanitation in

2012 have gained more.

❖ Survey observes improvement in

Housing Index also indicating im-

provement in access to housing and

reduction in inter-States disparities

with disproportionate benefits for

the lowest income group in 2018

vis-à-vis 2012.

❖ The economic Survey also notes

improvement in micro environ-

ment for all States in 2018 except

for Assam in rural and Odisha and

Assam in urban areas as compared

to 2012.

❖ Survey also points to a positive cor-

relation between access to bare ne-

cessities and better health and edu-

cation outcome. It observes im-

provement in child survival, decline

in still births, malnutrition, and in-

fant mortality with improved access

to sanitation and clean drinking

water.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Agriculture:





Agriculture and Allied activities clocked a

growth of 3.4 per cent at constant prices

during 2020-21 (first advance estimate) says

the Economic Survey 2020-21.

Key Highlights:

❖ As per the Provisional Estimates of

National Income released by CSO

on 29th May, 2020, the share of Ag-

riculture and Allied Sectors in

Gross Value Added (GVA) of the

country at current prices is 17.8 per

cent for the year 2019-20.

❖ In the Agriculture year 2019-20 (as

per Fourth Advance Estimates), to-

tal food grain production in the

country is estimated at record

296.65 million tonnes which is

higher by 11.44 million tonnes than

the production of food grain of

285.21 million tonnes achieved dur-

ing 2018-19.

❖ In 2019-20, the major agricultural

and allied export destinations were

USA, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Nepal and

Bangladesh.

❖ The top agriculture and related

products exported from India were

marine products, basmati rice, buf-

falo meat, spices, non-basmati rice,

cotton raw, oil meals, sugar, castor

oil and tea.

❖ The contribution of livestock in to-

tal agriculture and allied sector

GVA (at Constant Prices) has in-

creased from 24.32 per cent (2014-

15) to 28.63 per cent (2018-19). Live-

stock sector contributed 4.19 per

cent of total GVA in 2018-19.

❖ During the last 5 years ending 2018-

19, Food Processing Industries (FPI)

sector has been growing at an Aver-

age Annual Growth Rate (AAGR) of

around 9.99 per cent as compared

to around 3.12 per cent in Agricul-

ture and 8.25 per cent in Manufac-

turing at 2011-12 prices.

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Economic Survey 2020-21 - Pradhan

Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY):





Economic Survey 2020-21 said the PM-JAY

reveals strong positive impact on Health

Outcomes. This was stated in the

Economic Survey 2020-21 which was laid by

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate

Affairs, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman in

Parliament.

Key Highlights:

❖ PM-JAY is being used for high fre-

quency but low-cost care such as

dialysis.is being used for high fre-

quency but low-cost care such as

dialysis.

❖ The proportion of households with

any usual member covered under

health insurance or financing

scheme increased by 54 per cent

from NFHS 4 to NFHS 5 in the

states that adopted PMJAY, it de-

creased by 10 per cent in the states

that did not adopt PMJAY, reflect-

ing the success of PMJAY in en-

hancing health insurance coverage.

❖ The reduction in Infant Mortality

Rate (IMR) was 20 per cent vis-à-vis

12 per cent in PMJAY and non-

PMJAY states respectively, an in-

crement of 8 per cent for states that

adopted PMJAY versus those that

did not.

❖ The proportion of people ensuring

family planning rose across all the

states between the two surveys, the

increase is much more significant

in the states that adopted PM-JAY

indicating its effectiveness.

❖ The proportion of women with to-

tal unmet family planning needs

decreased by 31% in the PMJAY

states, the decline in the non-

PMJAY states was merely 10%.

PMJAY: It is a fully-funded government

health insurance scheme that provides Rs 5

lakh medical insurance coverage per year

for 107.4 million families identified as per

the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Saving a Life

That Is In Jeopardy Is The Origin Of

Dharma:




Parliament on 29th January 2021.

Economic Survey is all about how the

governments, at the centre and states, have

handled this once in a century crisis.

“Saving a life that is in jeopardy is the

origin of Dharma”, the Economic Survey

quotes from the epic Mahabharat while

explaining the India’s policy response to

the pandemic wherein the trade-offs

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between lives and livelihood was inherent

in the crisis triggered by COVID-19.

Key Highlights:

❖ COVID-19 pandemic engendered a

once-in-a-century global crisis in

2020 where 90 per cent of countries

are expected to experience a con-

traction in GDP per capita and In-

dia’s efforts focused on saving lives

and livelihoods by its willingness to

take short-term pain for long term

gain.

❖ The Economic Survey states the ex-

ample of Spanish Flu to prove the

point that the timing matters - ear-

ly and extensive lockdowns leading

to greater delays in reaching peak

mortality, lower peak mortality

rates and overall lower mortality

burden.

❖ 40 day lockdown period was used

for scaling up the necessary medical

and para-medical infrastructure for

active surveillance, expanding test-

ing, contact tracing, isolation and

management of cases and

educating citizens about social

distancing and masks.

❖ The Survey credits the flattening of

curve and lives saved to the early

lockdown imposed by the govern-

ment.

❖ While the lockdown resulted in a

23.9 per cent contraction in GDP in

Q1, the recovery has been a V-

shaped one as seen in the 7.5 per

cent decline in Q2 and the recovery

across all key economic indicators.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Employment:





The Economic Survey 2020-21 states that

the years 2019 and 2020 are landmark years

in the history of labour reforms.

The country saw the nearly 29 Central

Labour laws being amalgamated,

rationalized and simplified into four labour

codes viz.:

1. The Code on Wages, 2019,

2. The Industrial Relations Code,

2020,

3. The Occupational Safety, Health

and Working Conditions Code,

2020 and

4. The Code on Social Security, 2020.

COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerability of

urban casual workers, who account for 11.2

per cent of urban workforce (All-India) as

per Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS),

January-March, 2020.

The size of labour force in 2018-19 was

estimated at about 51.8 crore persons:

about 48.8 crore employed and 3.0 crore

unemployed.

Industry-wise estimates on workforce

shows that the largest, about 21.5 crore

persons are employed in 'Agriculture',

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which is still the largest employer with 42.5

per cent of workforce.

Next important industry is ‘other services’

where about 6.4 crore persons (13.8 per

cent) were engaged.

'Manufacturing' and ‘Trade, hotel &

restaurants’ each employed about 5.9 crore

persons with the share of nearly 12.1 per

cent and 12.6 per cent respectively, while

‘Construction’ sector employed about 5.7

crore persons in 2018-19 with share of 12.1

per cent.

Economic Survey 2020-21 -

AatmaNirbhar Bharat Rojgar Yojana

(ABRY):





The Economic Survey says that ABRY, a

component of Aatmanirbhar Bharat

package announced in November, 2020 has

total estimated outlay of Rs 22,810 crore for

the scheme period i.e., up to wage month

31st May, 2023.

The scheme proposes to pay:

1. Entire employees’ and employers’

contribution (12% of employees’ EPF and

12% of employers' EPF contribution or

statutory rate applicable to establishment)

i.e. 24% of wages towards EPF in respect of

new employees in establishments

employing up to 1000 employees

(contributing EPF members with UAN)

during the period from October, 2020 to

June, 2021 and also to re-employ who lost

their jobs due to COVID-19.

2. Only employees' share of EPF

contribution (i.e. 12 per cent) of wages in

respect of new employees in

establishments employing more than 1000

employee during the period from October

2020 to June 2021, and also to re-employee

who lost their jobs due to COVID-19.

Other Measures:

The Survey says that to provide relief to the

organized sector employees, a notification

issued on 28th March, 2020 by the

Government provisioning non-refundable

advance of 75% of outstanding balance or 3

months’ wages whichever is lower, allowed

to the members of EPFO.

Under Prime Minister’s Garib Kalyan

Package (PMGKP) financial assistance was

given to building & other construction

workers (BOCW) which largely included

migrant workers from the funds collected

under BOCW’s cess.

31 State/UT Governments have announced

cash benefits, ranging from Rs. 1000 to Rs.

6000 per month to around 2.0 crore

workers and total amount of Rs. 4973.65

crore was disbursed.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Combined

Social Sector Expenditure:

14






Economic Survey 2020-21 states that the

combined (Centre and States) social sector

expenditure as per cent of GDP has

increased in 2020-21 compared to last year.

Key Highlights:

❖ The expenditure on social services

(education, health and other social

sectors) by Centre and States com-

bined as a proportion of GDP in-

creased from 7.5% in 2019-20 (RE)

to 8.8% in 2020-21 (BE).

❖ According to the Survey, India’s

rank in HDI 2019 was recorded 131

compared to 129 in 2018, out of a to-

tal 189 countries.

❖ By looking at the sub-component

wise performance of HDI indica-

tors, India's "GNI per capita (2017

PPP $)" has increased from US$

6,427 in 2018 to US$ 6,681 in 2019,

and "life expectancy at birth" has

improved from 69.4 to 69.7 years

respectively.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Sovereign

Credit Ratings:





Economic Survey 2020-21 has called for

sovereign credit ratings methodology to be

made more transparent, less subjective and

better attuned to reflect an economy’s

fundamentals.

Highlights:

❖ Never in the history of sovereign

credit ratings, has the fifth largest

economy in the world been rated at

the lowest rung of the investment

grade (BBB-/Baa3) except in the

case of China and India.

❖ Reflecting on the economic size

and thereby ability to repay debt, at

all other times, the fifth largest

economy has been predominantly

rated AAA.

❖ The Survey points out that the Sov-

ereign Credit Ratings can be pro-

cyclical and affect equity and debt

FPI flows of developing countries,

causing damage and worsening cri-

sis.

❖ Hence, it has called for addressing

the bias and subjectivity inherent in

sovereign credit ratings methodol-

ogy

❖ India has already raised the issue of

pro-cyclicality of credit ratings in

G20.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Banking

Sector:

15






According to Economic Survey 2020-21,

Gross Non-Performing Assets ratio of

Scheduled Commercial Banks decreased

from 8.21 per cent at the end of March 2020

to 7.49 per cent at the end of September

2020.

Key Highlights:

❖ This has to be seen in conjunction

with the asset classification relief

provided to borrowers on account

of the pandemic, says the Economic

Survey.

❖ Further, the Survey notes that Capi-

tal to risk-weighted asset ratio of

Scheduled Commercial Banks in-

creased from 14.7 per cent to 15.8

per cent between March 2020 and

September 2020 with improvement

in both Public and Private sector

banks.

❖ The recovery rate for the Scheduled

Commercial Banks through Insol-

vency & Bankruptcy code-IBC

(since its inception) has been over

45 per cent.

❖ Due to the pandemic, initiation of

Corporate Insolvency Resolution

Process (CIRP) was suspended for

any default. The suspension along

with continued clearance has al-

lowed a small decline in accumu-

lated cases.

❖ The financial flows to the real

economy however remained con-

strained on account of subdued

credit growth by both banks and

Non-Banking Financial Corpora-

tions.

❖ Credit growth of banks slowed

down to 6.7 per cent as on January

1, 2021. The credit off take from

banking sector also witnessed a

broad-based slowdown in 2020-21.

Future Investment Initiative Forum

2021:

The Union Minister for Health and Family

Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan recently

addressed the 4th edition of the Future

Investment Initiative (FII) Forum, through

Video Conference.

The purpose of this year's forum was to

find solutions on how business and

government can expand access to

healthcare, train healthcare workers,

remove regulatory barriers and encourage

investment in advanced health

technologies

The Future Investment Initiative (FII) is an

annual investment forum. It is held in

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to discuss trends in

the world economy and investment

environment. It is hosted by the Public

Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF).

The first event was held in October 2017.

MoU between India and Japan:

A formal MoU (Memorandum of

Understanding) signing ceremony was

recently held between Textiles Committee,

Ministry of Textiles, Government of India

16


(GoI) and M/s. Nissenken Quality

Evaluation Centre Japan.

The key aim of the MoU is to provide

required support to textile’s trade and

industry for ensuring quality as per the

requirement of Japanese buyers through

Testing, Inspection & Conformity

Assessment.

It is expected that the MoU will strengthen

the bilateral trade by enhancing India’s

export of Textile and Apparels (T&A) to

Japan, which is the third largest export

destination of the world.

Textiles Committee: The Textiles

Committee is a statutory body under the

Ministry of Textiles to ensure quality of all

textiles and textile products for domestic

and export markets. It was established in

the year 1963 by an Act of Parliament. It is

the only body which provides for all the

quality related needs of the entire Textiles

Value Chain (TVC) in an integrated format

on a pan-India basis.

Indo-French year of Environment:

The Indo-French Year of the Environment

is the Indo-French partnership on

Environment, Biodiversity, Climate Change

and other allied areas to be undertaken

throughout 2021.


was recently launched by the Union

Minister of Environment, Forest & Climate

Change Prakash Javadekar along with

Barbara Pompili, the French Minister for

Ecological Transition.

The basic objective of this collaboration is

to strengthen Indo-French cooperation in

sustainable development, increase the

effectiveness of actions in favour of global

environment protection and give them

greater visibility.


will be implemented over the period 2021-

2022 on five main themes. They are as

follows:

1. Environmental protection

2. Climate change

3. Biodiversity conservation

4. Sustainable urban development

5. Development of renewable energies

and energy efficiency

This collaboration and the Indo-French

Environment year will be held under the

Ministry of Ecological Transition, in

association with the Ministry of Europe

and Foreign Affairs along with the support

of the Embassy of France in Delhi and its

partners from the French side.

From the Indian side, it will be coordinated

by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and

Climate Change (MoEFCC) along with the

Ministry of External Affairs (MEA),

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs

(MoHUA), Ministry of New and Renewable

Energy and other concerned

Ministries/Departments/Organizations.

Note: India-France alliance is the main

pillar of the International Solar Alliance

launched by PM Narendra Modi.

Environment

17


National Marine Turtle Action Plan:

The Ministry of Environment Forest and

Climate Change (MoEF&CC) has recently

released ‘Marine Mega Fauna Stranding

Guidelines’ and ‘National Marine Turtle

Action Plan’.

National Marine Turtle Action Plan and

Marine Mega Fauna Stranding Guidelines

have been released acknowledging the

need for a conservation paradigm for

marine turtles and marine megafauna. The

main objective is conserving both floral

and faunal diversity including marine

biodiversity.

Both these documents contain ways and

means to promote inter-sectoral action for

conservation. They also guide improved

coordination amongst the government,

civil society and all relevant stakeholders

on the response to cases of stranding,

entanglement, injury or mortality of

marine mammals and also conservation of

marine turtles.

The key highlight of these two documents

is as follows:

❖ Actions to be taken for handling

stranded animals on shore stranded

or entangled animals in the sea or

on a boat,

❖ Management actions for improved

coordination,

❖ Reducing threats to marine species

and their habitats,

❖ Rehabilitation of degraded habitats,

❖ Enhancing people’s participation,

❖ Advance scientific research and ex-

change of information on marine

mammals and marine turtles and

their habitats.

Marine biodiversity in India: India has rich

marine biodiversity along a vast coastline

of over 7,500 km. It comprises of colorful

fish, sharks, including Whale Sharks,

turtles and big mammals like whales,

dolphins and dugongs to bright corals.

The need for action plan:

Marine habitats not only harbor diverse

species but also provide resources essential

for human wellbeing. Millions of people

depend on these resources ranging from

maritime trade and transport, food,

mineral resources, cultural traditions,

spiritual values and inspiration that draws

tourists from around the world.

But sadly, the marine mega fauna species

and marine turtles face a wide variety of

challenges which include stranding and

entanglement.

Thus, India needs to conserve the marine

resources to meet the demands and

increasing people’s participation.

CAS 2021:

18


It refers to the Climate Adaptation

Summit 2021. The CAS 2021 was recently

addressed by Prime Minister Narendra

Modi.

Key points of Pm Modi's Address:

❖ India is targeting 450 gigawatt of

renewable energy capacity by 2030.

❖ India is promoting LED lights and

saving 38 million tons of carbon-di-

oxide emissions annually.

❖ By the year 2030 India will restore

26 million hectares of degraded

land.

❖ India is providing clean cooking

fuel to 80 million rural households.

❖ India is connecting 64 million

households to piped water supply.

About the Summit:

❖ The Government of Netherlands

government hosted an online in-

ternational Climate Adaptation

Summit (CAS Online) on 25 Janu-

ary 2021.

❖ The climate adaptation summit was

built on the advances of the UN

Climate Action Summit.

❖ It also showcased the pioneering

solutions of the climate emergency

and sustaining momentum through

UNFCCC’s COP26.

❖ Climate adaptation summit 2021

will help in delivering the action

and inspire the change to help the

societies build back better.

❖ The organizers of the 2021 summit

also called for major new funding

for agricultural research.

❖ They also expanded the access to

farmer advisory services, risk man-

agement and financial services.

❖ The summit saw the launch of a

comprehensive Adaptation Action

Agenda (AAA), setting out clear

commitments to deliver concrete

new endeavors and partnerships to

make our world more resilient to

the effects of climate change.

India-Japan Act East Forum:

The 5th joint meeting of the India-Japan

Act East Forum (AEF) was recently held by

India and Japan in New Delhi.

The meeting was co-chaired by Foreign

Secretary Shri Harsh Vardhan Shringla, and

Suzuki Satoshi, Ambassador of Japan to

India.

During the 5th meeting, AEF reviewed the

progress of ongoing projects in the North

Eastern Region of India under the

assistance of Japan in various areas

including connectivity, hydropower,

sustainable development, harnessing of

water resources, and skill development.

Both the sides discussed several new

projects being undertaken under India-

Japan bilateral cooperation.

They also exchanged views on cooperation

in new areas such as healthcare, agro-

industries and SMEs, bamboo value chain

National

19


development, smart city, tourism and

people-to-people exchanges.

The ongoing ODA projects supported by

Japan amounts to more than 231 billion yen

(appx. INR 1,600 crore).

AEF ofIndia-Japan: The AEF was

established in 2017 to provide a platform

for India-Japan collaboration in the North

Eastern (NE) Region under India’s “Act

East Policy” and Japan’s vision for a “Free

and Open Indo-Pacific”.

Japan: Japan is an island country located in

East Asia. It is made up of 6,852 islands.

The Japanese name for Japan is Nihon or

Nippon which means sun origin.

It is bordered by the Sea of Japan to the

west and the Pacific Ocean to the east, and

spans from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north

to the East China Sea and Philippine Sea in

the south.

Tokyo is the capital of Japan. The currency

used there is Japanese Yen. The current

Prime Minister of Japan is Shinzo Abe.

AYU SAMVAD:

"AYU SAMVAD" (My Health My

Responsibility) is one of the largest public

awareness campaign programme on

AYURVEDA and COVID 19 PANDEMIC.

It is being organized by All India Institute

of Ayurveda New Delhi, as envisioned &

supported by Ministry of AYUSH.

More than five lac lectures will be

organized across the nation by Ayurveda

Physicians for citizens of India.

The key objective of the campaign is

creating awareness through Lecture series

and to make common people aware about

the theme “Ayurveda for COVID 19

Pandemic”.

NGCD:

It refers to the National Girl Child Day. The

NGCD is celebrated on 24th January every

year in India. The day is celebrated to raise

awareness about the rights of girls and to

highlight the inequalities that they face in

their lives.

The theme for this year was “A girl is

flower, not a thorn”.

Apart from Girl child day, Women and

Child Development Department will also

celebrated National Girl Child Week from

January 24 to 30.

During the week, many important

programmes like “Beti Bachao-Beti

Padhao” (BBBP) signature campaign,

plantation and name plate drive in the

names of daughters, awareness campaign

on women’s rights and mass oaths for girl

child protection was administered.

NGCD was started by the Ministry of

Women and Child Development in 2008.

The main objective behind is:

20


• to highlight the inequalities faced

by girls, to promote awareness in-

cluding the rights of a girl child, the

importance of education, health,

and nutrition. Nowadays also gen-

der discrimination is a major prob-

lem that girls or women face

throughout their life

• to generate awareness on the issue

of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR)

and create a positive environment

around valuing the girl child.

An event was organized by the Women and

Child Development Ministry in Delhi to

observe the anniversary of 'Beti Bachao Beti

Padhao' scheme. Women and Child

Development Minister Maneka Gandhi was

the Chief Guest at the event.

The Government of India (GoI) has taken

several steps over the years to change this

and improve the conditions of girls. Several

campaigns and programs such as Save the

Girl Child, Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, free or

subsidized education for the girl children,

reservations for women in colleges and

universities have been initiated to reduce

this discrimination.

BBBP Scheme: Beti Bachao Beti Padhao

scheme was launched by Prime Minister

Narendra Modi in January 2015 at Panipat

in Haryana. Through this scheme, many

important issues related to girls and

women are raised. Many inhuman

practices towards women such as feticide

are now reduced. These campaigns have

helped change the mindset of the people,

especially in rural areas, there has been a

lot of awareness about the education of

girls.

NEP-2020: National Education Policy

(NEP)-2020 has introduced “Gender

Inclusion Fund for targeting the

development of girl child. The fund will

focus on ensuring 100% enrolment of girls

in schooling and a record participation rate

in higher education.

PMRBP:

It refers to the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya

Bal Puraskar. It is awarded to the children

with exceptional abilities and outstanding

achievement in the fields of innovation,

scholastic achievements, sports, arts &

culture, social service and bravery.

The Government of India (GoI) confers the

Bal Shakti Puraskar under Pradhan Mantri

Rashtriya Bal Puraskar.

This year, 32 applicants from across the

country, under different categories of Bal

Shakti Puraskar, have been selected for

PMRBP-2021.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on 25th

January 2021, interacted with the ‘Pradhan

Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar’ awardees

via video conferencing and lauded their

contributions.

Vaccine Maitri:

21


International

Vaccine Maitri is the name given to an

initiative launched by India to gift COVID-

19 vaccines to neighbouring countries.

Recently, Sri Lanka and Bahrain have

received the COVID-19 vaccines from India

under the initiative. Sri Lanka has received

5 lakh Covid-19 vaccines while Bahrain will

receive 10,800 vaccines.

India has already delivered over 5 million

doses to seven countries in the

neighbourhood under the initiative before

Sri Lanka and Bahrain.

The 7 countries are as follows:

1. Maldives (100,000 vaccines)

2. Bhutan (150,000 vaccines)

3. Nepal (1 million vaccines)

4. Bangladesh (2 million vaccines)

5. Myanmar (1.5 million vaccines)

6. Mauritius (100,000 vaccines)

7. Seychelles (50,000 vaccines)

Commercial supplies of Covishield have

also been sent to Morocco, Brazil, (2

million doses each), and Bangladesh (5

million doses).

COVID-19 Vaccination Programme in

India: The COVID-19 vaccination

programme started in India on January 16,

2021, with the two approved vaccines

(Emergency-use) – Covishield and Covaxin.

In phase 1, health workers are being

vaccinated followed by people above the

age of 50 years.

WEF's Common Trust Network:

Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, recently addressed the

event on Restoring Cross Border Mobility

by World Economic Forum’s Common

Trust Network through Video Conference.

The main purpose of the event was to

discuss the policies, practices and

partnerships needed to reopen borders and

enable essential travel, tourism and

commerce in a safe and sustainable way.

Background: The countries around the

world are working to overcome the

COVID-19 pandemic and restart their

economies. They are all facing the

challenge of how to reopen their borders

and allow travel and commerce to resume

while protecting their populations’ health.

So to address this challenge, The Commons

Project Foundation and the World

Economic Forum have launched the

Common Trust Network in collaboration

with a broad voluntary network of public

and private stakeholders.

The Common Trust Network is designed

a) to empower individuals with digital

access to their health information,

22


b) to make it easier for individuals to

understand and comply with each

destination’s requirements, and

c) to help ensure that only verifiable lab

results and vaccination records from

trusted sources are presented for the

purposes of cross-border travel and

commerce.

Common Trust Registry: The Common

Trust Network is enabled by a global

registry of trusted laboratory and

vaccination data sources, standard formats

for lab results and vaccination records, and

standard tools to make those results and

records digitally accessible.

It is also enabled by a common global

registry for governments and other

destinations to publish their health

screening entry rules in a common format,

making it easier for travellers and the travel

industry to understand and comply with

each destination’s requirements.

World NTD Day:

It refers to the World Neglected Tropical

Diseases Day. January 30, 2021 marked the

second annual World Neglected Tropical

Diseases (NTD) Day, highlighting the

global community’s commitment to ending

Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Background: World Neglected Tropical

Diseases Day was celebrated for the first

time on 30 January 2020. Originally

announced by the Crown Prince Court of

Abu Dhabi at the 2019 Reaching the Last

Mile Forum, hundreds of partners signed

up to mark World NTD Day and demand

action to Face NTDs and End The Neglect.

The WHO Executive Board recommended

support of World NTD Day, an important

milestone in adding the day to the official

global calendar.

Why 30th January?

30th January was marked as the World

NTD Day because it marks the anniversary

of the 2012 London declaration on NTDs.

The declaration unified the partners across

the sectors, countries and disease

communities to enable greater investment

and action on NTDs.

2021 World NTD Day:

On World NTD Day this year, more than

50 landmarks representing 25 nations

across the world will be lit up to celebrate

how far we have come together in beating

NTDs.

India too will join these countries, by

illuminating UNESCO world heritage site

Qutub Minar.

What are NTDs?

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are a

group of 20 conditions that affect more

than a billion people in rural regions, poor

urban areas and conflict zones, with

devastating health, social and economic

consequences – but they are preventable

and treatable.

These NTDs are common in low-income

populations in developing regions of

Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

They are caused by a variety of pathogens

such as viruses, bacteria, protozoa and

23


parasitic worms (helminths). They include

dengue, rabies, blinding trachoma, Buruli

ulcer, endemic treponematoses (yaws),

leprosy (Hansen disease) etc.

These diseases are contrasted with the big

three infectious diseases (HIV/AIDS,

tuberculosis, and malaria), which generally

receive greater treatment and research

funding.

One in five people around the world are

affected by NTDs.

India is home to the world’s largest

absolute burden of at least 11 of these major

neglected tropical diseases.

International Energy Agency (IEA):

The Framework for Strategic Partnership

between the International Energy Agency

(IEA) members and the Government of

India GoI) was recently signed.

Objective: Its main objective is to

strengthen mutual trust and cooperation &

enhance global energy security, stability

and sustainability.

This partnership will lead to an extensive

exchange of knowledge and would be a

stepping stone towards India becoming a

full member of the IEA.

About IEA: The International Energy

Agency (IEA) is a Paris-based autonomous

intergovernmental organization. It was

established in the framework of the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation

and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the

wake of the 1973 oil crisis.

The IEA is made up of 30 member

countries. In addition, the IEA family also

includes eight association countries which

include Brazil, China and India.

Three countries are seeking accession to

full membership, Chile, Israel and

Lithuania.

World Economic Forum’s Davos

Dialogue:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently

addressed the World Economic Forum’s

Davos Dialogue on 28th January, 2021 via

video conferencing.

Key Highlights:

The virtual session was attended by more

than 400 top industry leaders from across

the world.

PM Modi will be delivered his speech on

the “Fourth Industrial Revolution- using

technology for the good of humanity”. He

also interacted with the CEOs during the

Davos Dialogue.

This is the 51st annual meeting of the

World Economic Forum. The Davos

Dialogues agenda marks the launch of the

World Economic Forum’s Great Reset

Initiative in the post COVID world.

24


The WEF annual meeting in Davos helps to

bring together the top leaders of the world

who will help in shaping the regional,

global and industry agendas for 2021.

Great Reset Initiative: The Great Reset

Initiative organised in June 2020 was the

50th annual meeting of WEF. The initiative

had brought together the high profile

business and political leaders who were

convened by WEF and Prince of Wales.

The meeting was organised under the

theme of Rebuilding the society and

economy in a sustainable way for the post-

COVID-19 world.

WEF: It refers to the World Economic

Forum.

The WEF is headquartered in Cologny,

Geneva Canton, Switzerland.

It is an international NGO, founded in

January 1971.

The WEF's mission is stated as "committed

to improving the state of the world by

engaging business, political, academic, and

other leaders of society to shape global,

regional, and industry agendas".

The annual meeting of WEF is held in

Davos, Switzerland every year at the end of

the month January.

The founder and Executive Chairman of

WEF is Klaus Schwab.

US and Palestine:

U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration

recently announced that it was restoring

relations with the Palestinians and

renewing aid to Palestinian refugees.

It is a reversal of the Donald Trump

administration’s cutoff and a key element

of its new support for a two-state solution

to the decades-old conflict agreed to by

Israelis and Palestinians.

Palestine: Palestine, recognized officially as

the State of Palestine by the United

Nations and other entities, is a de jure

sovereign state in Western Asia claiming

the West Bank (bordering Israel and

Jordan) and Gaza Strip (bordering Israel

and Egypt) with Jerusalem as the

designated capital, although its

administrative center is currently located

in Ramallah.

The entirety of territory claimed by the

State of Palestine has been occupied since

1948, first by Egypt and Jordan and then by

Israel after the Six-Day War in 1967.

The region (or at least a part of it) is also

known as the Holy Land and is held sacred

among Jews, Christians, and Muslims.

Since the 20th century it has been the

object of conflicting claims of Jewish and

Arab national movements, and the conflict

has led to prolonged violence and, in

several instances, open warfare.

Estonia:

25


Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia,

is a country on the eastern coast of the

Baltic Sea in Northern Europe.

It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of

Finland across from Finland, to the west by

the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the

south by Latvia, and to the east by Lake

Peipus and Russia.

The territory of Estonia consists of the

mainland and of 2,222 islands in the Baltic

Sea. The capital of Estonia is Tallinn.

The currency used here is Euro.

Recently, the former Member of the

European Parliament, Kaja Kallas, the

leader of the Reform Party has become

Estonia’s first female prime minister.

The Reform Party, led by Kallas, won the

2019 parliamentary election in Estonia with

34 MPs in the country’s 101-seat parliament,

Riigikogu.

With this win, Estonia has currently

become the only country in the world

where both the president Kersti Kaljulaid

and the prime minister are women.

About Kaja Kallas: The 43 years old Kaja

Kallas is a lawyer and the former European

Parliament Member. She is the daughter of

Sim Kallas who founded the Reform Party

and was PM of Estonia from 2002-2003.

Union Budget Mobile App:

The Finance Minister of India, Nirmala

Sitharaman recently launched the “Union

Budget Mobile App” ahead of the

presentation of the Union Budget on

February 1, 2021. The App was launched by

her during the hosting of the customary

Halwa ceremony at the North Block on the

30th of January 2021.

The mobile app was launched for hassle-

free access of Budget-related documents by

Members of Parliament (MPs) and the

general public.

The budget will completely be paperless for

the first time after. This decision was taken

in the light of ongoing coronavirus

pandemic.

This will be the first time since the

presentation of independent India's first

Budget on November 26, 1947, that the

documents containing income and

expenditure statement of the Union

Government along with the Finance Bill,

detailing new taxes and other measures for

the new financial year, will not be

physically printed.

About the Union Budget Mobile App:

The mobile app will provide complete

access to 14 Union Budget documents,

India Polity

26


including the Annual Financial Statement

or the Budget, Demand for Grants (DG)

and the Finance Bill, etc. as prescribed by

the Constitution.

The App has a user-friendly interface

comprising of features like downloading,

printing, search, zoom in and out,

bidirectional scrolling, table of contents

and external links, etc.

It is bilingual (English & Hindi) and will be

available on both Android and iOS

platforms.

The App has been developed by the

National Informatics Centre (NIC) under

the guidance of the Department of

Economic Affairs (DEA).

Union Budget:

The “Annual Financial Statement” is

commonly known as Budget. However, the

term Union Budget has not been

mentioned in the constitution.

This annual financial statement is prepared

in accordance with Article 112 of the

Constitution of India.

The Union Budget comprises Capital

Budget, Revenue Budget, Expenditure

Budget, and this also has the next fiscal

year's estimates. In 2016, the Rail Budget

was also merged with union budget.

The Capital Budget part of the Union

Budget has accounts for capital payment

and receipts which are government-

related.

Until 1999, the Union Budget was

announced at 5:00 pm on last working day

February but since the Budget 1999, the

timing was changed to 11 am.

In 2016, Narendra Modi shifted the date of

Budget presentation to February, 1.

The printing of budget documents starts

with the customary Halwa ceremony in

which the Halwa is served by the Finance

Minister.

The tradition of carrying budget in a

leather briefcase was also changed in July

2019 when the finance minister carried the

budget in a Bahi-Khata.

What is Halwa Ceremony?

Halwa ceremony has been a tradition

which has continued for long.

As part of the ritual, a sweet dish or Indian

dessert ‘halwa’ is prepared in a big ‘kadhai’

(vessel) and served to the officials of the

Finance Ministry and support staff, who are

directly involved in the Budget making and

printing process.

In a bid to prevent the leak of information,

the officials are required to stay in the

ministry and remain cut off from their

families till the presentation of the Budget

by the finance minister in the Lok Sabha.

The ceremony also recognizes and lauds

the efforts of every staff who have been a

part of the budget-making process.

NIC: It refers to the National Informatics

Centre. NIC works under the Ministry of

Electronics and Information Technology

(MeitY).

It provides infrastructure that support the

delivery of IT services by the government

and the delivery of initiatives under the

Digital India Mission

Budget Session 2021: The first part of the

Budget Session started on January 29 and

will continue till February 15, 2021 and the

27


second part of the session will be from

March 8 to April 8 2021.

The Rajya Sabha will function from 9 am to

2 pm and Lok Sabha from 4 pm to 9 pm

with Zero Hour and Question Hour.

Members of Parliament have been

requested to undergo an RT-PCR test to

prevent spread of Covid-19.

NVD:

It refers to the National Voters Day. The

NVD has been celebrated on the 25th of

January every year since 2011, all across the

country to mark the foundation day of

Election Commission of India (ECI), i.e.

25th January 1950.

The main objective of the NVD celebration

is to encourage, facilitate and maximize

enrolment, especially for the new voters.

New voters are felicitated and handed over

their Elector Photo Identity Card (EPIC) in

the NVD functions

Recently, the 11th National Voters Day was

celebrated on 25th January 2021 by ECI.

President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind,

virtually graced and addressed the event

held at Ashok Hotel, New Delhi.

The theme for this year’s NVD, ‘Making

Our Voters Empowered, Vigilant, Safe and

Informed’.

Note: Earlier the eligibility age of the voter

was 21 years but in 1988 it was lowered to 18

years. The Sixty-First Amendment Bill of

1998 lowered the voter's eligibility age in

India.

During the event, the President conferred

the National Awards for the year 2020-21

and also launched the Election

Commission of India's Web Radio: 'Hello

Voters' – an online digital radio service.

The National Awards for the Best Electoral

Practices was conferred on State and

District level officers for their outstanding

performance in the conduct of elections in

different spheres such as IT initiatives,

Security Management, Election

Management during COVID-19, Accessible

Election and contribution in the field of

voter awareness and outreach. National

Awards will also be given to important

stakeholders like national icons, CSOs and

media groups for their valuable

contribution towards voters’ awareness.

ECI’s Web Radio:‘Hello Voters’: This online

digital radio service will stream voter

awareness programmes. It will be

accessible through a link on the ECI

website.

The programming style of Radio Hello

Voters has been envisaged to match that of

popular FM radio services. It will provide

information and education on electoral

processes through songs, drama,

discussions, spots, stories of elections etc.

in Hindi, English and regional languages

from all over the country.

28


Padma Awards 2021:

This year, On the evening of 72nd Republic

Day, the President approved conferment of

119 Padma Awards from diverse field

including 1 duo case (in a duo case, the

Award is counted as one). This year the

President of India has approved

conferment of 119 Padma Awards. In the

list, there are 7 Padma Vibhushan, 10

Padma Bhushan and 102 Padma Shri

Awards. Women awardees counts at 29. It

also includes 10 persons from the category

of Foreigners or NRI or PIO or OCI,16

Posthumous awardees and 1 transgender

awardee.

• Padma Vibhushan (7)

• Shinzo Abe (Japan) - Public Affairs

• Belle Monappa Hegde - Medicine

• Narinder Singh Kapany (Posthu-

mous) - Science and Engineering

• Maulana Wahiduddin Khan - Oth-

ers: Spiritualism

• B. Lal - Others: Archaeology

• S P Balasubramaniam (Posthu-

mous) - Art

• Sudarshan Sahoo – Art

Padma Bhushan (10)

• Krishnan Nair Shantakumari

Chithra - Art

• Tarun Gogoi (Posthumous) - Public

Affairs

• Chandrashekhar Kambara - Litera-

ture and Education

• Sumitra Mahajan - Public Affairs

• Nripendra Misra - Civil Service

• Ram Vilas Paswan (Posthumous) -

Public Affairs

• Keshubhai Patel (Posthumous) -

Public Affairs

• Kalbe Sadiq (Posthumous) - Others:

Spiritualism

• Rajnikant Devidas Shroff - Trade

and Industry

• Tarlochan Singh - Public Affairs

Padma Shree was awarded to 102 Awardees.

About Padma Awards: Padma Awards are

one of the highest civilian Awards of the

country conferred in three categories,

namely –

1. Padma Vibhushan: For Exceptional

and distinguished service.

2. Padma Bhushan: For Distinguished

service of high order.

3. Padma Shri: For distinguished ser-

vice in any field.

Padma Vibhushan: It is the second-highest

civilian award of the Republic of India. The

award was instituted on January 2, 1954.

This award is given for the “exceptional

and distinguished service”. It does not

differentiate between race, occupation,

position, or sex. The award is given for the

exceptional and distinguished service.

Satyendra Nath Bose, Zakir Hussain,

Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher, Nand Lal Bose

were among the first recipient of the award

in 1954.

Persons in News

29


Padma Bhushan: It is the third-highest

civilian award in India. The award is

preceded by the Bharat Ratna & Padma

Vibhushan while followed by the Padma

Shri. The award was Instituted on January

2, 1954.

Padma Shri: It is the fourth-highest civilian

award of India after Bharat Ratna, Padma

Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan. It is

awarded by the Government of India every

year on the occasion of republic day since

1954.

These awards are conferred by the

President of India at ceremonial functions

at Rashtrapati Bhawan. It is given in

various disciplines and fields of activities

including the art, public affairs, social

work, Trade and industry, science and

engineering, medicine, literature,

education, sports and civil service.

All persons without distinction of race,

occupation, position or sex are eligible for

these awards. However, Government

servants including those working with

PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not

eligible for these Awards.

The awards are announced on the occasion

of Republic Day every year. These awards

are conferred by the President of India at

ceremonial functions which are held at

Rashtrapati Bhawan usually around March/

April every year.

The nomination process is open to the

public. Even self-nomination can be made.

All nominations received for Padma

Awards are placed before the Padma

Awards Committee headed by the Cabinet

Secretary, which is constituted by the

Prime Minister every year. The

recommendations of the committee are

submitted to the PM and the President for

approval.

The awardees are then presented a

certificate and a medallion. The recipients

are also given a small replica of the

medallion, which they can wear during any

ceremonial/State functions etc., if the

awardees so desire.

The award does not amount to a title and

cannot be used as a suffix or prefix to the

awardees’ name.

The total number of awards to be given in a

year (excluding posthumous awards and to

NRI/foreigners/OCIs) should not be more

than 120.

The award is normally not conferred

posthumously. However, in highly

deserving cases, the Government could

consider giving an award posthumously.

A higher category of Padma award can be

conferred on a person only after a gap of

five years. However, in highly deserving

cases, a relaxation can be made by the

Awards Committee.

Nandita Hazarika:

She is a conservationist who has recently

been appointed by the Supreme Court of

India as Member of a Technical Committee

constituted by it on October 14 last year to

hear complaints by land owners against the

action taken by the Nilgris Collector, which

30


included “arbitrary variance in acreage of

the elephant corridor.”

About: On October 14, the top court

upheld the Tamil Nadu government’s

authority to notify an ‘elephant corridor’

and protect the migratory path of the

animals through the Nilgiri biosphere

reserve, the largest protected forest area in

India, spanning across Tamil Nadu,

Karnataka and Kerala.The corridor is

situated in the ecologically fragile Sigur

plateau.

Sigur Plateau: It is a plateau in the north

and east of Nilgiri District in the Nilgiri

Hills of Tamil Nadu. It connects the

Western and the Eastern Ghats and

sustains elephant populations and their

genetic diversity. It has the Nilgiri Hills on

its southwestern side and the Moyar River

Valley on its north-eastern side. The

elephants cross the plateau in search of

food and water.

Manjamma Jogathi:

She is a transgender who has been included

in the list of Padma awards recipients this

year. She is from Karnataka who has over

the past many decades practised and

single-handedly popularised rural folk arts.

The Padma Shri came to Manjamma

Jogathi after decades of social and financial

struggle.

Overcoming personal odds, Manjavva

Jogati held aloft the cause of these art

forms, especially the Jogati Nritya and

Janapada songs, practiced in rural

Karnataka, Maharashtra, and parts of

Andhra Pradesh.

Now in her early 60s, Manjamma Jogati,

originally named Manjunath Shetty by her

parents. She began to identify as a woman

in her teens. Her family from Ballari

district then disowned her by making her

part of a transgender community in rural

Deccan that reveres the fiery Goddess

Renuka Yellamma. Members of this

community are considered married to the

goddess. The community's lifestyle and the

plight of its members were highlighted in

the national award-winning 2009 Marathi

movie Jogwa.

Subhash Bose Aapda Prabandhan

Puraskar:

The Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda

Prabandhan Puraskar 2021 has recently

been conferred upon Dr Rajendra Kumar

Bhandari in the Individual category and

Sustainable Environment and Ecological

Development Society (SEEDS) in

Institutional category.

The award carries a cash prize of Rs 51 lakh

and a certificate for an institution and Rs 5

lakh and a certificate in case of an

individual.

About: The Government of India (GoI)

announces the award every year on January

23, the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash

31


Chandra Bose, to recognise and honour the

invaluable contribution and selfless service

rendered by individuals and organisations

in India in the field of disaster

management.

R. S. Sharma:

R. S. Sharma has recently been appointed

as the new Chief Executive Officer (CRO)

of the Ayushman Bharat scheme or the

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana which is

an insurance scheme by the National

Health Authority’s (NHA). He will replace

Indu Bhushan. He will be assuming the

office as CEO, NHA from February 1, 2021.

RS Sharma has worked as the Chairman of

the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(TRAI). He is also the head of the

Empowered Group on Technology and

Data Management to combat the Covid-19

and the Covid-19 vaccine delivery

technology platform—Co-WIN. He also

works as a member of the National Expert

Group on Covid-19 Vaccine

Administration.

Ami Bera:

He is the US veteran Indian-American

Congressman who has been re-elected as

chairman of the House Foreign

Subcommittee on Asia, Pacific, Central

Asia and Non-proliferation.

Bera is the longest-serving Indian

American currently in Congress.

Meghalaya:

It is a state in northeastern India.

Meghalaya was formed by carving out two

districts from the state of Assam: the

United Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills, and

the Garo Hills on 21 January 1972. Its capital

is Shillong. The current Governor and

Chief Minister of Meghalaya are satya Pal

Malik and Conrad Sangama respectively.

Recently, Meghalaya won the National

Award for Best Electoral Practices 2020.

President Ram Nath Kovind virtually

conferred the award to Meghalaya CEO

F.R. Kharkongor at the National Voters’

Day Award function held in New Delhi.

The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer,

Meghalaya was selected for a Special

Award for Information Technology

applications in Elections by the Election

Commission of India (ECI), in the National

Best Electoral Practices Awards-2020.

The ECI has consistently been

championing the use of Technology

covering non-election period, such as voter

Places in news

32


portal, voter helpline app, SMS, 1950

helpline, political party registration and

online tracking.

The ECI on Monday also launched digital

radio “Hello Voters “ with a view to

connect and engage with young voters.

About the award: The award recognizes the

sustained and consistent IT application

efforts in electoral activities being made by

the Office of the CEO in the entire

Enrolment to Elections (E2E) process and

for leveraging technology for the benefit of

all categories of voters, both general and

persons with disabilities (PWDs).

Republic Day Parade 2021 Awards:

The Union Sports Minister, Kiren Rijiju

presented the Republic Day Awards for

2021 Parade Tableaux.

In the parade of 72nd Republic Day, 32

tableaux participated. These Tableaux were

selected from the 17 States and Union

Territories (UTs). Six of the Tableaux were

from the Defence Ministry while Nine were

from other ministries, departments and

paramilitary forces.

Best Tableau Award:

The Uttar Pradesh tableau was given the

award for best tableau out of total 32. The

theme of the UP tableau was “Ayodhya:

Cultural Heritage of Uttar Pradesh”.

The tableau of Tripura was chosen as the

second-best tableau. The Tripura tableau

displayed the eco-friendly traditions to

achieve the self-reliance in the socio-

economic parameters.

The third best tableau award was presented

to the tableau of Uttarakhand.

Uttarakhand Tableau was displayed with

the theme of the “Dev Bhoomi– The Land

of the Gods”.

Other Awards:

Out of 9 tableaux of the different

ministries, departments, and paramilitary

forces, the Department of Biotechnology

tableau was chosen for the top award. The

department had presented the Tableau

with the theme of “Atmanirbhar Bharat

Abhiyan: COVID vaccine development”.

Apart from that, the tableau of Central

Public Works Department (CPWD), with

the theme ‘Amar Jawan’, bagged a special

prize for paying tribute to the fallen heroes

of the armed forces.

The award for best cultural performance

was given to student of Mount Abu Public

School and Vidya Bharti School Rohini,

Delhi. In their performance they had

displayed the vision for Self-Reliant India-

Atmanirbhar Bharat.

Selection of tableauxs:

• The tableaux are selected by the

Ministry of Defence (MoD) for the

Republic day parade.

• In order to shortlist the tableaux,

an expert committee is set up by

the defence ministry comprising of

the distinguished people from vari-

ous fields of arts.

• The expert committee consists of

prominent persons from the field of

art, painting, culture, music, archi-

33


tecture, sculpture and choreogra-

phy.

• States are given representation on a

rotational basis.

Rajasthan's New M-sand Policy 2020:

The Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Ashok

Gehlot, has recently released the new M-

Sand Policy of Rajasthan. The M-sand

policy is in light with the government’s

commitment to meet the quantity of sand

which is needed for construction work.

The main aim of launching the M-sand

policy is as follows:

1. To reduce the dependency on the

traditional sand from rivers.

2. To encourage the use and produc-

tion of manufactured sand or M-

sand in the state.

3. To solve the problem of waste gen-

erated from the mines in the min-

ing areas of Rajasthan.

4. To create huge employment oppor-

tunities at the local level.

The policy designated the M-sand units the

status of an industry.

What is M-Sand?

M-Sand means Manufactured sand. It is a

substitute of river sand for concrete

construction. It is produced by crushed

hard granite stone.

The sand is derived from the minerals

which are locally available such as granite,

silica, basalt, sandstone and quartile. The

crushed sand is of cubical shape with

rounded edges, washed and graded to as a

construction material. The crushed

material is then segregated and used in

differently based on the size. In order to

reduce the impurities, the sand is washed

after crushing it to make it more durable

and suitable for construction process.

The size of manufactured sand (M-Sand) is

less than 4.75mm. The M-sand meet the

standards of ISO code 383: 2016.

The need for M-sand Policy in Rajasthan:

The need for this policy is felt in the state

of Rajasthan as the availability of sand is

not as per the requirement of construction

works. There is a demand of around 70

million tonnes of river sand for various

construction works. But, only 20 M-sand

units are operating in the state and they

produce 20,000 tonnes of M-sand every

day. Now, with this new M-sand policy it

will promote it as a long-term alternative

to gravel and help in setting up of new

mining units.

Usage of Manufactured Sand

Due to the fast-growing construction

industry, the demand for sand has

increased tremendously causing deficiency

of suitable river sand in most parts of the

world. Hence, to avoid the depletion of

good quality river sand for the use of

construction, the use of manufactured sand

has been increased.

Benefits of M-Sand:

It is easily available and has less

transportation cost.

❖ It does not contain organic and sol-

uble compounds that affect the set-

34


ting time and properties of cement,

therefore the required strength of

concrete can be maintained.

❖ M-Sand does not have the presence

of impurities such as clay, dust and

silt coatings which help in produc-

ing better quality concrete.

❖ In addition, it can also be dust-free

and the sizes of m-sand can be con-

trolled easily so that it meets the

required grading for the given con-

struction.

❖ It eliminates the environmental

impact that occurred due to the lift-

ing of natural sand from the river

bed.

Dhannipur:

It is a village of Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh

where the Dhannipur mosque project was

formally launched on Republic Day at the

five-acre plot.

The plot was allotted by the Uttar Pradesh

(UP) Government on the directions of the

Supreme Court in the Babri Masjid Ram

Janmabhoomi title suit.

The Indo-Islamic Cultural Foundation

(IICF) is overseeing the construction of the

mosque.

The project would take around 30 months

to be completed.

The project comprises three parts: a

mosque based on a modern design; a

multi-speciality 200-bed hospital and

community kitchen; and an Indo-Islamic

Cultural Research Centre.

PSU Privatization Policy:

The Union Cabinet recently cleared the

policy on the privatization of public sector

undertakings (PSUs). Detailed information

regarding the policy will be announced in

the upcoming Union budget that will be

presented on February 1, 2021.

Important Features of the Policy:

❖ The policy will provide a roadmap

for the existence of government-

owned entities in strategic and

non-strategic areas.

❖ This policy is part of the Aatma-

Nirbhar Bharat package announced

by the Minister of Finance in May

2020.

❖ This is a coherent policy announc-

ing that all sectors will be open for

private sector participation. The

government had also announced to

limit the presence of PSUs to one to

four in strategic sectors.

❖ The government wanted to privat-

ize, merge or bring the remaining

companies under a holding compa-

ny. After this policy will come into

force, the government will com-

India Policy

35


pletely exit from the companies in

non-strategic sectors.

❖ The timing of the privatization of

non-strategic sector companies will

be decided on a case-by-case basis.

❖ According to the initial draft of the

policy, the Ministry of Investment

and Public Asset Management had

classified 18 departments as strate-

gic departments. It includes-

fertilizer, telecommunications,

power, banking, defense and insur-

ance. These industries have been

classified as mining and explora-

tion, manufacturing and processing

and services.

❖ Pubic Sector Undertaking (PSU): In

India, state-owned enterprises are

called public sector enterprises

(PSU) or public sector enterprises.

The majority of the stock of the

company in a PSU is owned by the

union Government or one of the

state or territorial governments. It

can also be partially owned by two.

PSUs are of two types. They are

1. Central public sector enterprises

(CPSUs, CPSEs) or

2. State level public enterprises

(SLPEs).

PSUs are administered by the Ministry of

Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises.

PSUs in India: Till the year 1951, there were

just 5 enterprises in the public sector. Over

the time the number has increased. As of

March 2019, the number has increased to

348.

STARS Project:

The full form of STARS project is

Strengthening Teaching-Learning and

Results for States project. Agreement for

the financial support of the

implementation of STARS project of

Ministry of Education (MoE) was recently

signed between Department of Economic

Affairs (DEA) and World Bank along with

Ministry of Education.

Earlier Union Cabinet has approved the

proposal of STARS project in October 2020.

The Program envisions improving the

overall monitoring and measurement

activities in the Indian school education

system through interventions in 6 States

viz Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya

Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Kerala.

Implementation of the STARS Project:

❖ STARS project would be imple-

mented as a new Centrally Spon-

sored Scheme under the Depart-

ment of School Education and Lit-

eracy (DoSEL), MOE.

❖ At the Naional level, the project will

be implemented through DoSEL,

MoE and at the State level, the pro-

ject will be implemented through

the integrated State Implementa-

tion Society (SIS) for Samagra Shik-

sha.

Financing:

36


❖ The total project cost of STARS pro-

ject is Rs 5718 crore with the finan-

cial support of World Bank

amounting to US $ 500 million (ap-

proximately Rs. 3700 crore) and rest

coming as State share from the par-

ticipating States, over a period of 5

years.

❖ The proposed World Bank support

under STARS is primarily in the

form of a results-based financing

instrument called Program for Re-

sults (PforR). This will ensure major

reforms at the State level through a

set of disbursement-linked indica-

tors (DLIs).

❖ A State Incentive Grant (SIG) will

be used to encourage States to meet

desired project outcomes. The SIG

matrix has been aligned with the

intermediate outcome indicators as

per the requirement of the PforR

instrument.

❖ The Independent Verification

Agency (IVA) will verify each result

before disbursement of funds.

STARS project will be instrumental in the

implementation of various

recommendations of National Education

Policy 2020.

The Program envisions improving the

overall monitoring and measurement

activities in the Indian school education

system like Strengthening Early Childhood

Education and Foundational Learning,

Improving Learning Assessment System,

ICT-enabled approaches in education,

Teachers Development and Vocational

education etc through interventions in

selected states.

Economic Survey 2020-21:

The Economic Survey 2020-21 was

presented by the Union Minster for

Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt Nirmala

Sitharaman in the Parliament on 29

January 2021. The survey is generally

presented a day before the Union Budget.

However, this year, the survey was

presented earlier because the day-before-

budget is a Sunday. The major focus of this

year’s economic survey is the losses and

impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The survey will provide an assessment of

how the Indian economy has been

impacted by the deadly COVID-19 virus

and how it is improving. It will also project

India’s gross domestic product growth for

2021-22.

The Economic Survey document is

prepared by the Economics Division of the

Department of Economic Affairs (DEA)

under the guidance of the Chief Economic

Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian.

The Economic Survey 2020-21 will be

followed by the Union Budget 2020-21

which will be tabled on February 1.

The theme of Economic Survey, 2020-21

are:

❖ #SavingLives&Livelihoods

❖ #VshapedRecover

Economic Survey: The Economic Survey is

an annual document of the Ministry of

37


Finance. It reviews the economic progress

of the country and issues in the last 12

months.

The survey provides information related to

the performance of key developmental

schemes launched by the government. The

document also explains the performance of

major government policies and their

impact.

It not only discusses major fiscal

developments, macroeconomic factors,

inflation, and other economic factors but

also highlights the impact of agriculture,

climate change, and employment on the

economy of the country.

The 1st Economic Survey was tabled in

1950-51. However, till the year 1964, it was

presented along with the budget.

Economic Survey 2020-21- Monetary

Policy Transmission:





Economic Survey said that the monetary

policy transmission has improved resulting

in fast lowering of interest rate for

borrowers.

The monetary policy was significantly

eased from March 2020 onwards owing to

the unprecedented COVID 19 pandemic

and remained accommodative in 2020,

states the Economic Survey 2020-21.

As a result of accommodative monetary

policy during 2020, the RBI has cut the

repo rate by 115 bps since March 2020, with

75 bps cut in first Monetary Policy

Committee (MPC) meeting in March 2020

and 40 bps cut in second meeting in May

2020.

Also, Systemic liquidity in 2020-21

remained in surplus while RBI undertook

various conventional and unconventional

measures to manage liquidity situation in

the economy.

The year 2020 saw an improvement in

transmission of policy repo rates to deposit

and lending rates, as reflected in the

decline of 94 bps and 67 bps in Weighted

Average Lending Rate on fresh rupee loans

and outstanding rupee loans respectively

from March 2020 to November 2020.

Similarly, the Weighted Average Domestic

Term Deposit Rate declined by 81 bps

during the same period.

Apart from the reduction in term deposit

rates, many banks also lowered their saving

deposit rates during the current easing

cycle. The saving deposit rates of five major

banks, which ranged 3.25-3.5 per cent prior

to the introduction of the external

benchmark (in end September 2019), were

placed at 2.7-3.0 per cent as on January 15,

2021.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Health:

38


Science and Technology





Economic Survey 2020-21 has strongly

recommended an increase in public

spending on healthcare services from 1% to

2.5-3% of GDP, as envisaged in the

National Health Policy 2017.

Key Highlights:

It notes that this can significantly reduce

the Out-of-Pocket-Expenditure (OOPE)

from 65% to 35% of the overall healthcare

spend.

The Survey has recommended that the

National Health mission (NHM) should be

continued in conjunction to with

Ayushman Bharat Yojana

Drawing from the lessons learned during

the ongoing global pandemic of COVID-19,

the Economic Survey makes a strong case

for complete adoption of telemedicine for

meeting the last-mile challenges of

healthcare delivery in the country.

Economic Survey 2020-21 - Education:





Economic Survey 2020-21 states that online

schooling took off in a big way during the

COVID-19 pandemic.

Key Highlights:

There was an enormous increase of the

percentage of enrolled children from

government and private schools owning a

smartphone from 36.5 per cent in 2018 to

61.8 per cent in 2020 in rural India.

PM eVIDYA which is a comprehensive

initiative to unify all efforts related to

digital/online/on-air education to enable

multi-mode and equitable access to

education for students and teachers.

Around ninety two courses have started

and 1.5 crore students are enrolled under

Swayam MOOCs which are online courses

relating to NIOS.

PRAGYATA guidelines on digital education

have been developed with a focus on

online/blended/digital education for

students who are presently at home due to

closure of schools.

The MANODARPAN initiative for

psychological support has been included in

Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

India has attained a literacy level of almost

96 per cent at the elementary school level.

As per National Sample Survey (NSS), the

literacy rate of persons of age 7 years and

above at the All India level stood at 77.7 per

cent.

PPP Research Reactor:

39


Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC),

the premier research organization of the

Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has

recently evolved a design for the first PPP

Research Reactor for production of Nuclear

Medicines.

Key Highlights:

In the proposed partnership, the private

entities will get exclusive rights to process

and market the isotopes produced in the

research reactor, in lieu of investing in the

reactor and processing facilities.

Earlier, in May 2020, the Union Finance

Minister had announced establishment of a

Research Reactor in PPP mode for

production of medical isotopes as a part of

Aatma Nirbhar Bharat initiatives for DAE.

Significance: This project will be a major

step towards making India self-reliant in

key radio isotopes used in medical and

industrial applications.

Globally, nuclear medicine is a USD 6

Billion market and is expected to grow

rapidly to reach USD 30 Billion by

2030.India produces all major isotopes in

the country under the aegis of BARC.

BARC: BARC is India's premier nuclear

research facility, headquartered in

Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra.It is a

multi-disciplinary research centre with

extensive infrastructure for advanced

research and development covering the

entire spectrum of nuclear science,

engineering and related areas. Previously,

the Government of India (GoI) created the

Atomic Energy Establishment, AEET with

Homi J. Bhabha (also known as the "Father

of Indian Nuclear Programme"), as the

founding director on 3 January 1954. After

Homi Jehangir Bhabha's death in 1966, the

centre was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic

Research Centre on 22 January 1967.

AXIOM MISSION 1 (AX 1):

SpaceX Axiom Space-1 is a planned SpaceX

Crew Dragon mission to the International

Space Station (ISS), operated by SpaceX on

behalf of Axiom Space.

The Axiom Mission 1 (AX 1) flight is the

first entirely-private orbital space mission.

A former Israeli fighter pilot, an American

technology entrepreneur and a Canadian

investor are all set to be a part of the crew

of this flight. The flight will launch in

January 2022.

These three men are paying $55 million

each to fly aboard a SpaceX rocket for an

eight-day visit to the International Space

Station, organized by Houston-based

spaceflight firm Axiom.

The Axiom Mission 1 (AX 1) flight is being

arranged under a commercial agreement

with NASA. The mission will be led by

former NASA astronaut Michael Lopez-

Alegria, who now works for Axiom space.

While private citizens have travelled to

space before, the AX 1 mission will be the

first to use a commercially built spacecraft,

the SpaceX Dragon 2, best known for flying

its first two crews to the ISS late last year.

Note: This is not the first time that civilians

have been launched into space. Private

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civilians have travelled to the space station

before.

Since 2001, Russia has been selling rides to

the ISS to wealthy businessmen around the

world. They travelled onboard the Russian

Soyuz aircraft along with professional

cosmonauts and NASA astronauts.

NICSI:

It stands for National Informatics Centre

services Incorporated. NICSI celebrated 25

years of its establishment on 28 January

2021.

The NICSI is a Public Sector Enterprise

under National Informatics Centre(NIC),

Ministry of Electronics & Information

Technology (MeitY), Government of India

(GoI).

NICSI started its journey in the ICT service

industry on 29th August 1995. It has

provided end-to-end IT solutions for e-

governance projects for Central and State

Governments and other PSUs across India.

NICSI extends its services to the

International level too in certain projects.

Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union

Minister for Electronics and Information

Technology, Communications and Law and

Justice honoured the event as Chief Guest.

On this occasion, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad

launched: TEJAS - A Visual Intelligence

Tool, e-Auction India, Work from

AnyWhere, NIC Products Portfolio and

rolled out the Silver Jubilee e-Brochure of

NICSI.

• Tejas – a Virtual Intelligence tool

(NIC&NICSI-CEDA) that extracts

critical information from data to

make its meaningful information

for policy decisions and improving

efficiency in government services

and citizen delivery;

• e-Auction India – to cater to elec-

tronic forward and reverse auction

requirements of the Govt. organiza-

tions serving online 24×7;

• Work from Anywhere Portal

(WAW) – a virtual environment,

provisioned shall empower employ-

ees access routine applications like

eoffice, calendar, mail, and other

departmental applications and

communicate across through VC

ensuring safety during this pan-

demic with social distancing and

work assurance from anywhere;

• NIC Products Portfolio- for Interna-

tional Offering to augment Digital

India branding through promotion

of productized software applica-

tions at global level.

LUNAR SAMPLE 76015,143:

NASA has loaned a Moon rock for display

in the Oval Office of the White House at

the request of the Joe Biden

administration.

41


Sports

Reason: As per tradition in the United

States (US), every incoming President gets

to redecorate the Oval Office – the

commander-in-chief’s principal place of

business which is visited by the most

powerful people in the world.

So, after taking office as the 46th US

President on January 20, Democrat Joe

Biden has made a couple of changes to the

Oval Office, including replacing portraits,

carpets, and removing the “Diet Coke

button”.

The Moon rock now sits in the Oval Office

in symbolic recognition of earlier

generations' ambitions and

accomplishments, and support for

America's current Moon to Mars

exploration approach.

About: The "Lunar Sample 76015,143" is

from the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility

at NASA's Johnson Space Center in

Houston. Lunar Sample 76015,143, which

weighs 332 grams, was collected by Apollo

17 astronaut Ronald Evans and

moonwalkers Harrison Schmitt and

Eugene Cernan.

Apollo 17 was the last mission to send

humans to set foot on the lunar surface.

This sample was chipped from a large

boulder at the base of the North Massif in

the Taurus-Littrow Valley, 3km from the

Lunar Module. It was collected in 1972. It is

a 3.9-billion-year-old sample formed

during the last large impact event on the

nearside of the Moon, the Imbrium Impact

Basin, which is 1,145 km in diameter.

Note: NASA plans to land the first woman

and next man on the Moon by 2024.

\

Anti-doping:

Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports

Shri Kiren Rijiju recently launched a

breakthrough Reference Material (RM) for

use in chemical testing in the field of anti-

doping synthesized by collaborative efforts

of National Dope Testing Laboratory

(NDTL) and National Institute of

Pharmaceutical Education and Research

(NIPER), Guwahati.

This Reference Material (RM), has been

identified by NDTL as one of the rarely

available RMs globally and would be used

to strengthen anti-doping measures in all

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-

accredited laboratories.

The Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU) between NDTL and NIPER

Guwahati was signed in August 2020 which

proposes to synthesize 20 rarely available

Reference Materials (RMs) during a period

of 3 years.

The RMs are used essentially during dope

testing for quality control purposes and

therefore their availability remains critical

in sports dope testing, globally.

The availability of these RMs would help

the anti-doping laboratories to strengthen

their testing capacity. This will help in the

42


greater cause of promoting fair play in

sports.

NDTL has taken several initiatives towards

further strengthening its research activities

in collaboration with premier scientific

institutes in India and also initiated the

collaborations with other WADA

accredited laboratories in Cologne, Tokyo

and Rome and have exchanged thought

and ideas for the furtherance of the anti-

doping efforts.

About NDTL: National Dope Testing

Laboratory (NDTL) is an autonomous body

under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports,

Government of India (GoI). It is

headquartered in Delhi. It is the only

laboratory in the country responsible for

human sports dope testing.

The NDTL in India was established in 2008

with an aim to get permanently accredited

by International Olympic Committee (IOC)

and World Anti Doping Agency to do the

testing for the banned drugs in human

sports.

2K Time Trial:

It refers to the two-kilometre time trial.

The cricket world is growing so fast, so the

challenge is and so the demand for better

physical fitness so the Indian cricket board

has introduced mandatory 2-km time trials

to measure speed and endurance levels in

its training programme for top players.

According to this new rule, the 2K Time

Trial which has been set at 8 minutes and

15 seconds for fast bowlers and 8:30 for

batsmen, spinners and wicketkeepers —

has become mandatory for India’s

centrally-contracted cricketers.

What is the 2k time trial?

On a standard athletics track, the timings

of the distance is covered in five laps of 400

metres each can be measured with a stop-

watch or an electronic clock. The 2k time

trial is a speed-endurance test, according to

Ramji Srinivasan, the 2011 World Cup-

winning Indian team’s strength and

conditioning coach.

What are the benefits of a time trial?

If an athlete meets the standard set for the

time trial, he or she can be termed ‘fit’.

Another benefit of the time trial is that it

will help to redraw the fitness schedule of a

cricketer, if needed.

For example, a batsman is in the 90s, it is

extremely hot and humid outside. The time

trial will help in terms of when to push

(and) when to sprint.

According to Srinivasan, Sri Lanka, South

Africa, and New Zealand also put cricketers

through the time-trial test.

How is the time trial different from a Yo-Yo

test?

In the Yo-Yo test, two cones are placed 20

metres apart. At the first beep, the athlete

starts and must reach the cone at the other

end before the second beep, and then turn

and run back to cross the starting point

before the third beep.

As the Yo-Yo test level gets tougher, the

frequency of the beeps increases and the

43


number of shuttles (up and down runs)

also goes up before a player gets a short

break.

Yo-Yo tests have been used in football for

ages.

Yo-Yo has a lot of acceleration and

deceleration and rapid change of direction.

Yo-Yo test is probably a far more sport-

specific test for cricket.

The BCCI made clearing the Yo-Yo test

mandatory for Indian cricketers in 2016.

However, in recent years there seems to be

a preference amongst certain sports

scientists to be testing this 2-kilometre

time trial with elite-level cricketers

Jay shah:

He is the secretary of BCCI who has been

appointed as the new President of the

Asian Cricket Council (ACC). The 32 years

old replaces the chief of Bangladesh Cricket

Board (BCB) Najmul Hasan Papon. He is

also the youngest person ever to be

appointed to the office.

About ACC: The Asian Cricket Council

(ACC) is a cricket organization which was

established in 1983, to promote and

develop the sport of cricket in Asia. It is

headquartered in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It

currently consists of 24 member

associations. ACC is responsible for

organizing the Asia Cup tournaments. The

current ACC Chairman is Amitabh

Choudhary.

Note: The 2020 edition of the Asia Cup was

postponed to June this year because of the

COVID-19 pandemic. Pakistan was to

originally host the tournament but the

tournament is now expected to be held in

either Sri Lanka or Bangladesh.

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