DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS

By admin: Feb. 25, 2022

Government of India extends National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship for the next five years

Tags: National News

• The government of India has extended the  central sector scheme “National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship (NMMSS)” till 2025-26. 

• The government has allocated  Rs. 1827.00 crore for the scheme for the next five year duration 2021- 26.

• The government of India has also  increased the income limit ceiling to Rs 3.5 lakh per annum . It was earlier Rs 1.5 Lakh per annum.  It means that students whose parents annual income is upto Rs 3.5 lakh per annum are eligible for scholarship.

National cum Merit Scholarship Scheme (NMMSS)

• The National Cum Merit Scholarship scheme was launched by the Government of India in 2008-2009 .

• The objective of the scheme is to award scholarships to meritorious students of economically weaker sections to arrest their drop-out at class VIII and encourage them to continue their education at secondary stage.

•  Under this scheme government of India provides one lakh fresh scholarships of Rs.12,000/- per annum (Rs.1000/- per month) per student  to selected students of class IX  every year and their  continuation/renewal in classes X to XII for study in  State Government, Government-aided and Local body schools under the scheme. 

• Students are selected for the award of scholarships through an examination conducted by the State/ UT Governments. The scheme is registered on the National Scholarship Portal (NSP).

• Scholarships are disbursed directly into the bank accounts of students by electronic transfer. 

• 100% funds under the scheme are provided by the Central Government.

Government organises international conference on Temples “‘Devayatanam”

Tags: Summits

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)  under  the  Ministry of Culture, Government of India is organising a two-day international conference ‘Devayatanam – An odyssey of Indian temple architecture on 25th - 26th February, 2022 at Hampi, Karnataka. 

• The Union Minister for Culture, Tourism  G Kishan Reddy will inaugurate the conference.

• The inaugural session will take place at Pattabhirama Temple, Hampi while the academic sessions will be held in Auditorium, Kannada University, Hampi.

Hampi 

• Hampi is situated along the Tungabhadra river in Karnataka.

• It is a UNESCO (United Nations Scientific Educational and Cultural Organisation ). world heritage site. India has a total of 40 sites in the UNESCO  world heritage site list. The 40th is Dholavira in Gujarat. 

• Hampi was the capital of the Vijayanagara empire in the 14th century 

• Among the attractions of Hampi are beautiful temples, ruins of palaces, remains of aquatic structures, ancient market streets, and royal pavilions.

• The Hampi stone temple is printed on the reverse side of Rs 50 notes.

MILAN Naval exercise starts in Visakhapatnam

Tags: Defence

The Indian Navy’s multinational Naval exercise  MILAN 2022 commenced  in Visakhapatnam on 25 February 2022.It will be conducted for 9 days  in two phases with the harbour phase scheduled from 25 to 28 February and Sea Phase from 01 to 04 March.

• The theme of the MILAN 2022 exercise is ‘Camaraderie – Cohesion – Collaboration’.

• More than 40 countries are participating in the MILAN exercise .

MILAN

• MILAN is a biennial multilateral naval exercise incepted by Indian Navy in 1995 at Andaman and Nicobar Command.

• Since its inception, the event has been held biennially except for 2001, 2005, 2016 and 2020.

Prime Minister addresses a webinar on Agriculture and Union Budget 2022-23

Tags: National News

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi addressed a webinar on the positive impact of the Union Budget 2022 in the Agriculture sector on 24 February 2022.

The Webinar was focused on ‘Smart Agriculture’- Strategies for implementation. 

Main highlights of his speech 

To make Agriculture Modern and Smart 

The Prime Minister elaborated on the seven ways in which the Budget proposes to make agriculture modern and smart. 

Firstly, The target is to undertake natural farming on mission mode within 5 kms on both the banks of the Ganges. 

Secondly, Modern technology in agriculture and horticulture will be made available to the farmers.

 Thirdly, Emphasis has been laid on strengthening Mission Oil Palm to reduce the import of edible oil. 

Fourthly, new logistics arrangements will be made through the PM Gati-Shakti plan for the transportation of agricultural products.

 Fifth solution in the Budget is better organization of agri-waste management and increasing farmers’ income through waste to energy solutions. 

Sixthly, more than 1.5 lakh post offices will provide services like regular banking so that farmers are not troubled. 

Seventh, Agri research and education syllabus will be changed as per demands of modern times with regard to skill development and human resource development.

Benefit of PM KISAN yojana  

• As on 22nd February, 2022, benefits under PM KISAN(Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi) scheme have been provided to about 11.78 Crore farmers and funds amounting to Rs1.82 lakh crore in various installments have been released to the eligible beneficiaries of this scheme across India.   

• The PM KISAN scheme was launched on 24 February ,2019 at Gorakhpur,Uttar Pradesh , by  Narendra Modi  . It provides Rs 6000/year to eligible farmers in  three installments of Rs 2000 each.

Budgetary Allocation for PM -KISAN 

The Centre has allocated Rs 68,000 crore for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) in the Union Budget 2022-23, which is just 4.6 per cent higher than the Budget Estimates of Rs 65,000 crore for 2021-22 and only 0.74 per cent higher than the revised estimates of Rs 67,500 crore for the current financial year 

He said that Agriculture budget allocation has increased manifold .

• The  Agriculture Ministry has been allocated Rs 1,32,514 crore in 2022-23, a 4.5% increase over the revised estimates of 2021-22.

• Allocation to the Ministry accounts for 3.4% of the government’s budget.  55% of the allocation to the Ministry in 2022-23 is for the PM-KISAN scheme (Rs 68,000 crore). 

He said that the government has increased the agriculture loans for farmers by  two and half times in the last 7 years”

The target for banks for lending to the agricultural sector in 2022-23 is Rs 18 Lakh Crores. In 2021-22 it was 16.50 lakh crore .”