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By admin: Jan. 25, 2025

Padma Awards 2025

Tags: Awards

Why in the news?

• For the year 2025, the President has approved conferment of 139 Padma Awards .

Important points:

• 113 are awarded with Padma Shree, 19 with Padma Bhushan and 7, Padma Vibhushan; MT. Vasudevan Nair, Osamu Suzuki and Sharda Sinha are posthumously awarded with Padma Vibhushan.
• Deceased writerM.T. Vasudevan Nair, hockey player and Olympian P.R. Sreejesh, actors Nandamuri Balakrishna and Ajith Kumar, Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin and deceased industrialist Osamu Suzuki are some of the eminent persons who got the awards.

About Padma Awards:

• Padma Awards -one of the highest civilian Awards of the country, are conferred in three categories, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. 
• The Awards are given in various disciplines/ fields of activities, viz.- art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc.
• ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. 
• 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 RashtrapatiBhawan usually around March/ April every year. 
•  The list comprises 7Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri Awards. 23 of the awardees are women and the list also includes 10 persons from the category of Foreigners/NRI/PIO/OCI and 13 Posthumous awardees.
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IWAI sets up new Regional Office at Varanasi

Tags: National News

Why in the news?

• The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) under the Union Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways has upgraded its existing sub-office at Varanasi to a full-fledged Regional Office on January 23, 2025. 

Important points:

• IWAI presently hasfive regional offices in Guwahati (Assam), Patna (Bihar), Kochi (Kerala), Bhubaneswar (Odisha) and Kolkata (West Bengal). It will now have its sixth regional office in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.
• The Varanasi regional office with its sub-office at Prayagraj will oversee works in 487-kilometre stretch from Majhua to Varanasi MMT (Multi-Modal Terminal) and further up to Prayagraj, apart from other NWs in Uttar Pradesh.
• Implementation of the World-Bank supported Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP) will be one of its key priorities. 
• JMVP is aimed at the capacity augmentation of River Ganga, i.e., NW-1 through various river conservancy works like bandalling and maintenance dredging in addition to already constructed MMT at Varanasi to promote cruise tourism and smooth cargo movement along the waterway. 
• Three Multi-Modal Terminals – one each at Varanasi, Sahibganj and Haldia along with an Inter-Modal Terminal at Kalughat and a new navigational lock at Farakka in West Bengal have been built under JMVP to facilitate easy navigation along River Ganga. 

Objectives:

• The decision is aimed at streamlining IWAI projects and related works in the state of Uttar Pradesh. For effective implementation of Inland Water Transport (IWT) activities in National Waterway-1 (NW-1), River Ganga,
• There are about 30 rivers in Uttar Pradesh, of which ten have been declared as National Waterways.
•  The Varanasi Regional Office of IWAI shall look after development works not only on River Ganga but its various tributaries and other national waterways in Uttar Pradesh.
•  These include rivers like Betwa, Chambal, Gomti, Tons, Varuna and parts of Gandak, Ghaghra, Karamnasa and Yamuna rivers.
• IWAI’s Varanasi Regional Office will also be coordinating with the State IWT Authority set up for development of waterways in Uttar Pradesh.  
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India's WASH Innovations Lead Global Discourse at World Economic Forum 2025

Tags: International Relations

Why in the news:

• The India Pavilion at World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos hosted a global discussion titled “India’s WASH Innovation: Driving Global Impact in Climate and Water Sustainability.” 

Important points:

• Shri C. R. Patil, Hon'ble Union Minister of Jal Shakti, delivered the keynote address, presenting India's journey in implementing the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) and Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM).
• These initiatives have been pivotal in improving sanitation coverage and providing safe drinking water to millions of rural households.
• In 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi Ji launched the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) only 17% of rural households had functional tap water connections.
• However, today, a staggering 79.66% of rural households under the Jal Jeevan Mission have access to safe drinking water. 
• This transformation is not just about providing water but also about changing lives—rural India is now saving 55 million hours per day on fetching water, enabling increased workforce participation and productivity, especially from women.”
• The World Economic Forum provides a platform for the ministry to showcase India’s groundbreaking initiatives in WASH innovation and climate resilience, emphasizing efforts to promote equitable and inclusive access to WASH services.
• Key achievements, such as the elimination of open defecation, construction of over 95 million toilets under SBM, and widespread household tap water connections under JJM, have established India as a global leader in WASH initiatives.
• These achievements align with the broader goals of the World Economic Forum to foster collaborative solutions for climate action and water sustainability.
• Tackling the global water crisis, which threatens health, food security, economic growth, and biodiversity, requires collaborative action. India’s experience provides insightful lessons to inform and strengthen global WASH strategies.
• The session concluded with actionable insights and participant commitments, reaffirming India’s key role in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6) and Climate Action (SDG 13).
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NITI Aayog launches the “Fiscal Health Index 2025”

Tags: INDEX

Why in the news?

• The Hon’ble Chairman of the16th Finance Commission, Dr. Arvind Panagariya, launched the inaugural issue of NITI Aayog’s report titled “Fiscal Health Index (FHI) 2025” on 24th January 2025 in New Delhi.

Important points:

• The report provides a comprehensive assessment of the fiscal health of 18 major States, based on five key sub-indices: Quality of Expenditure, Revenue Mobilisation, Fiscal Prudence, Debt Index, and Debt Sustainability, along with insights into state-specific challenges and areas for improvement.
• The FHI aims to throw light on the fiscal status at the sub-national level and guide policy reforms for sustainable and resilient economic growth. 
• The report ranks States on the basis of composite fiscal index, which is based on five major sub-indices viz, quality of expenditure, revenue mobilisation, fiscal prudence, debt index, and debt sustainability.  With acumulative score of 67.8, Odisha tops the ranking in fiscal health among 18 major States, followed by Chhattisgarh and Goa with scores of 55.2 and 53.6, respectively.
• The achiever States display strong fiscal health, excelling in revenue mobilization, expenditure management, and debt sustainability. Improvements are seen in states like Jharkhand, which has strengthened fiscal prudence and debt sustainability, while Karnataka faces a decline due to weaker performance in expenditure quality and debt management. 
• These interstate disparities highlight the need for targeted reforms to address specific fiscal challenges and ensure sustainable growth.
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