Daily Current Affairs for UPSC, IAS, UPPSC/UPPCS, BPSC, MPPSC, RPSC and All State PCS Examinations

Chardham All Weather Road Project

Why in NEWS ?

Recently, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and MSMEs Shri Nitin Gadkari reviewed the CHAARDHAAM ROAD PROJECT in the State of Uttarakhand via Video Conference.

About

• Minister called for expeditious disposal of all pending issues and for completing land acquisition at the earliest.
• He emphasised that this project is of great national importance and should be handled from that perspective by all concerned.
• He requested CM Uttarakhand to personally review issues pending at the level of State Government especially those related to environment, land acquisition etc. and asked for strict monitoring and cautioned against deliberate delays.

Chaardhaam All Weather Road Project

• The Chaardham Project proposes to connect Yamnotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath which host Chaardham Yatra in the State of Uttarakhand.
• It envisages improvement as well as development of 889 km length of national highways.
• The all-weather Chaardham Road has in all 53 projects of 826 km length, involving an investment of Rs 12000 crore.
• Uttarakhand State Public Works Department (PWD), BRO and the National Highway & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL) are implementing agency for project.
• The work under the programme is being implemented on Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) mode i.e the project cost is completely borne by the government but contractor is directly responsible for ensuring quality of the work as well as rectification of defects and maintenance of the project for a period of 4 years after completion of construction.

PM SVANidhi App

Why in NEWS ?

• A mobile application of PM Street Vendor’s Atmanirbhar Nidhi, PM SVANidhi was launched in New Delhi to bring micro-credit facility for street vendors at their door steps.

About the APP

• PM SVANidhi Mobile App aims to provide user-friendly digital interface for lending institutions and their field functionaries for sourcing and processing loan applications of street vendors under the scheme.
• It is a step towards boosting the use of digital technology and will enable field functionaries to ensure maximum coverage of the scheme.
• Launch of Mobile App will give impetus to the implementation strategy of the scheme besides promoting paper-less digital accessing of micro-credit facilities by the street vendors.
• It will ensure fast implementation of the scheme with transparency.
• It will administer the scheme with an end-to-end solution and provide cashback for digital transactions.

PM Street Vendor’s AtmaNirbhar Nidhi (PM SVANidhi) –

• It is a Special Micro-Credit Facility for Street Vendors - Striving towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.
• The scheme would benefit vendors, hawkers, and people involved in goods and services related to textiles, apparel, artisan products, barbers shops, laundry services etc. in different areas.

Key points

• Approx. 50 lakh vendors who had their businesses operational on or before 24 March 2020 can avail an affordable loan of up to Rs. 10,000.
• On timely/ early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy @ 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through DBT.
• Institutions like Scheduled Commercials Banks (SCBs), Non-Bank Finance Companies (NBFCs), Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), Co-operative Banks, Small Finance Banks (SFBs), Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), etc. are allowed to lend for ground level Scheme implementation.
• The scheme is valid until March 2022.
• SIDBI is implementing agency for PM Svanidhi

India on track to achieve MMR targets for Sustainable Development Goals & National Health Policy

IN NEWS

• India is on track to achieve the Maternal Mortality Ratio targets for Sustainable Development Goals and National Health Policy.
• MMR of India has declined by 9 points in one year as per the Special Bulletin released by the Registrar General of India. The ratio has declined from 122 in 2015-17 to 113 in 2016-18.
• State of Rajasthan, which has shown the maximum decline of 22 points, Uttar Pradesh 19 points, Odisha 18 points, Bihar 16 points and Madhya Pradesh 15 points. Telangana and Maharashtra have shown more than 15 per cent decline in MMR, while four states, Odisha, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat have shown a decline between 10-15 per cent.

THE GOALS WITHIN A GOAL: HEALTH TARGETS FOR SDG 3

• By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100 000 live births.
• By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age, with all countries aiming to reduce neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1000 live births.

VARIOUS SCHEMES FOR WELFARE OF WOMEN AND GIRLS

• Under Article 15(3), the Constitution of India allows for positive discrimination in favor of women.
• The Rashtriya Mahila Kosh (National Credit Fund for Women) was set up in 1993 to make credit available for lower income women in India.
• The Mother and Child Tracking System was launched in 2009
• Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana (IGMSY), Conditional Maternity Benefit (CMB) is a scheme sponsored by the national government for pregnant and lactating women age 19 and over for their first two live births.It was started in year 2010.
• The Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment of Adolescent Girls – Sabla is an initiative launched in 2012 that targets adolescent girls. The scheme offers a package of benefits to girls between the age group of 10 to 19.
• National Action Plan for Children Was initiated in 2017,
• Digital Laado (DigitalLaado) - Giving Digital Wings to Daughters-An Initiative started with the association of FICCI & Google Digital Unlocked.

Automotive Technology e-portal from International Centre of Automotive Technology (ICAT)

IN NEWS

• Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), Government of India, has embarked on a mission to promote innovation, R&D and product development in India for various sectors. A step towards this mission is the creation of technology platform e-portals where such technology development, information exchange and innovation can be facilitated.

ABOUT

• ICAT is developing technology platform for automotive industry called ASPIRE - Automotive Solutions Portal for Industry, Research and Education.
• The objective of these portals is to create an ecosystem which will bring solution seekers and problem solvers together. These include, industry, academia, research institutes, start-ups, professionals and experts.

OBJECTIVE

• The key objective of this portal is to facilitate the Indian Automotive Industry to become self reliant by assisting in innovation and adoption of global technological advancements by bringing together the stakeholders from various associated avenues.
• The activities would include Research and Development, Product Technology Development, Technological Innovations, Technical and Quality Problem Resolution for the industry, Manufacturing and Process Technology Development, hosting Challenges for Technology Development and also conducting Market Research and Technology Surveys for identifying the trends in the Indian auto industry

CONCLUSION-

• The e-portal will act as a one stop solution providing a technology platform which will help to bring together the various stakeholders from the Indian auto industry, providing the necessary impetus for ushering the industry into future with combined efforts.
• Apart from acting as a solution and resource platform, the portal will also host grand challenges in line with the need of the industry as will be identified from time to time, for development of key automotive technologies.
• The ASPIRE portal has been prepared by ICAT and made live in its initial version on 15th July, 2020 as Phase-I.
• These measures are being developed to develop strong and self-reliant automotive industry in India which is in tune with the vision of Make in India and Atma-Nirbhar vision of Government of India.