1. LS Speaker Om Birla inaugurated annual Convention of Central Information Commission
Tags: National Summits National News
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla inaugurated the annual convention of the Central Information Commission on 9 November, 2022 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Important facts
The Central Information Commission organises an annual conference every year during October-November.
The title of the convention is Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav: Citizen-centric Governance through RTI.
Transparency, governance, right to information and other important issues will be discussed in the convention.
This conference also contributes significantly in widening and deepening the RTI regime.
Right to information means participation of people in the process of governance and administration which becomes inevitable.
Right to Information Act, 2005
The Act makes it mandatory to respond to citizens' queries for government information in a timely manner.
Its main objective is to empower citizens, promote transparency and accountability in the working of government, prevent corruption and work for the people in a democracy.
Central Information Commission (CIC)
It was established by the Central Government in the year 2005 under the provisions of the Right to Information Act, 2005. It is not a constitutional body.
It consists of a Chief Information Commissioner and a maximum of ten Information Commissioners.
The commissioners are appointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee consisting of the Prime Minister as the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister nominated by the Prime Minister.
The Commission inquiries from the concerned person in case of complaints received on any subject under the Right to Information Act, 2005.
2. Sanjeev Chopra assumes charge as Secretary, Dept of Food and Public Distribution
Tags: Person in news
Sanjeev Chopra has assumed charge as the Secretary, Department of Food and Public Distribution with effect from 31 October 2022. He is a 1990 batch IAS officer of Odisha cadre.
Important facts
Sanjeev Chopra completed his B Com Honours and MBA from FMS, Delhi University. Later, he completed his LLB from Utkal University Bhubaneswar and MSc from the London School of Economics & Political Science.
He started his career as Sub Collector in Baripada (Odisha).
He served as District Collector and District Magistrate in Koraput, Odisha from 1995 to 1997.
He served as Director/Deputy Secretary in the Department of Technical Education and Training during 1999-2000.
He served as the Managing Director of State Co-operative Banks during 2000-2004.
He has also served as Secretary in departments like Industry, General Administration, Agriculture and Home.
He has been awarded the National e-Governance Award by the Government of India for Excellence in Government Process Re-engineering for Digital Transformation in the year 2020 and 2021.
3. Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina confers ‘Friends of Liberation War’ honour on Edward M Kennedy
Tags: Awards International News
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina posthumously awarded the prestigious 'Friends of Liberation War' honour to former US Senator Edward M Kennedy in Dhaka on 31 October for his contribution to the liberation of Bangladesh.
Important facts
The honour was handed over to his son Edward M. Ted Kennedy Jr.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina remembered with gratitude the contribution of Edward Kennedy Sr.
He said Kennedy Sr. took a bold step against the genocide committed by Pakistan on innocent Bengali people despite the role of the US government during the 1971 Liberation War.
She said Kennedy Sr. had worked hard to suspend military and economic aid to Pakistan until the end of the war.
Liberation War of 1971
In the 1950s, Pakistan was ruled by a military-bureaucratic rule that ruled the entire country (East and West Pakistan) in an undemocratic manner.
The Bengalites had no political representation in this system of governance.
This dominance of West Pakistan was challenged by the Bengalis during the general elections of 1970.
In the general election of 1970, the Awami League of East Pakistan's Sheikh Mujibur Rahman got a clear majority.
West Pakistan was not ready for any leader of East Pakistan to rule the country.
On March 26, 1971, West Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight in East Pakistan.
As a result, lakhs of Bangladeshis had to take refuge in India.
The Pakistani army had to face defeat due to the bravery of the 'Muktiwahini Sena' and Indian soldiers who fought for the independence of Bangladesh.
On 6 December 1971, a new nation Bangladesh was born out of 13 days of war with the intervention of India.
4. First Global Digital Health Summit, Expo, and Innovation Awards held in New Delhi
Tags: place in news Summits
The first ever two day (28&29 October 2022) Global Digital Health Summit, Expo, and Innovation Awards is being held in New Delhi.
The summit has been organized in association with the world's foremost digital health associations; The Global Health Connector Partnership, The International Society for Telemedicine & Health, Switzerland, and United Nations Internet Governance Forum- Dynamic Coalition on Digital Health.
Global leaders in digital health and healthcare from across the USA, European Union, Africa, UK, and Southeast Asia are participating in the Summit.
Theme of the Global Digital Health Summit, Expo, and Innovation Awards: Digital Health for All
What is Digital Health?
Digital health refers to the use of information and communications technologies in medicine and other health professions to manage illnesses and health risks and to promote wellness.
Digital health has a broad scope and includes the use of wearable devices, mobile health, telehealth, health information technology, and telemedicine.
5. 41.5 Crore Indian lifted out of Poverty says the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index report 2022
Tags: National Economy/Finance
According to the 4th Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2022 report, India has successfully lifted 41.5 crore people out of poverty between 2005-06 and 2019-20. The report is jointly brought out by the UNDP’s Human Development Report Office and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).The first report was released in 2019 and it is released annually.
The report ranks 111 developing countries in the world on its Multidimensional Poverty index.
Main Points of the report
Poverty in the world
- According to the report 1.2 billion people in the world are multidimensionally poor.
- The highest number of poor people are in Sub Saharan Africa (579 million), followed by South Asia (385 million). The two regions together are home to 83% of poor people.
India report
Decline in Poverty over the years
- 41.5 Crore people in the country were lifted out of multidimensional poverty between 2005-06 and 2019-20.
- The data shows that roughly 27.5 crore people exited multidimensional poverty between 2005-6 and 2015-16, which works out to 2.75 crore people a year on an average.
- Between 2015-16 and 2019-20, 14 crore people were lifted from multidimensional poverty, which works out to an average of 2.8 crore people a year.
World’s largest poor in India
- India has the largest number of poor people worldwide (228.9 million), followed by Nigeria (96.7 million projected in 2020).”
- The Index has used 2020 population data of India for this purpose.
- In India “about 4.2 per cent of the population live in severe poverty (meaning their deprivation score is 50 per cent or higher).
Children are the poorest age group
- Poverty is found more amongst the children as compared to the adults.
- Children are still the poorest age group, with more than one in five (21.8 per cent) children being poor, compared to around one in seven adults (13.9 per cent).
- There are around 9.7 crore poor children in India.
More poor in rural areas
- The percentage of people who are poor is 21.2 per cent in rural areas compared with 5.5 per cent in urban areas
- Rural areas account for nearly 90 percent of poor people and 205 million of the nearly 229 million poor people live in rural areas
Poverty more in female headed households
- About 19.7 percent of people living in female-headed households live in poverty compared with 15.9 per cent in male-headed households.
Performance of the States
- Only West Bengal was successful in coming out of the list of 10 poorest state list prepared in 2015/16.
- The other 9 poorest states of India are Bihar, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
- Across states and union territories the fastest reduction of poverty in relative terms was in Goa, followed by Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
What is Multidimensional poverty Index?
- Multidimensional poverty assessments aim to measure the non-income based dimensions of poverty, to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the extent of poverty and deprivation.
- The Index measures a person’s deprivation across three dimensions and 10 indicators: health (child mortality, nutrition), education (years of schooling, enrollment), and living standards (water, sanitation, electricity, cooking fuel, and assets).
- It first identifies which of these 10 deprivations each household experiences, then identifies households as poor if they suffer deprivations across one -third or more of the weighted indicators.
The Index reflects deprivations on the following indicators:
- Adult(under 70 years) or child being malnourished
- Death of any Child (under age of 18 years) within the household in the last 5 years
- No household member aged above 6 years has completed at least six years of schooling
- Disrupted or curtailed schooling (a minimum of years 1-8)
- Any child of the family who is not attending school upto the age at which he/she would have completed class eight study
- Lack of access to safe drinking water
- Lack of access to basic sanitation services
- Lack of access to clean cooking fuel
- Lack of basic modern assets (radio, TV, telephone, computer, bike, motorbike, etc.)
- Lack of access to reliable electricity
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
It was set up by the United Nation General Assembly on 22 November 1965.
It help the countries in developing their own solutions on the issues of;
- Sustainable Development,
- Democratic governance and peace building, and
- Climate and Disaster resilience.
Headquarters: New York City, United States
Reports
- It publishes a Human Development Report every year.
- It also publishes the Multidimensional Poverty Index with the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.
6. 1,800 Bangladeshi Civil Servants to be trained at NCGG by 2025
Tags: National National News
The 53rd Capacity Building Program for Civil Servants of Bangladesh was inaugurated on 11 October 2022 at the National Center for Good Governance (NCGG) in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand.
Important facts
Under this, 1,800 Bangladeshi civil servants will be trained by India under a capacity building program by 2025.
Before 2019, 1500 civil servants of Bangladesh have been trained at NCGG.
It is the only institute in the country which has trained around 1,700 field level officers of Bangladesh Civil Service including Assistant Commissioners, SDMs and Additional Deputy Commissioners etc.
About National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG)
It was set up in 2014 by the Government of India as an apex institution in the country.
It is governed by a governing body headed by the Cabinet Secretary.
Its other members include secretaries of various departments of the Government of India.
It focuses on good governance, policy reform, training and capacity building, and also acts as a think tank.
It has undertaken capacity building of civil servants from several countries in partnership with the Ministry of External Affairs.
It has trained civil servants from 15 countries such as Bangladesh, Kenya, Tanzania, Tunisia, Seychelles, Gambia, Maldives, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Laos, Vietnam, Bhutan, Myanmar and Cambodia.
It helps in initiating governance reforms through study, training, knowledge sharing and promotion of good ideas.
7. Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022 gets Cabinet approval
Tags: National National News
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The Union Cabinet on 12 October 2022 has approved the Multi-State Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
Important facts
This bill has been brought to amend the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002.
The aim of the amendment bill is to strengthen the cooperative movement in the country.
The amendment to the Act will improve governance, increase transparency and accountability and reform the electoral process in multi-state cooperatives.
Election authority will be constituted to ensure fair, free and timely elections.
This amendment is an attempt to improve the ease of doing business and bring in more transparency.
Highlight of the bill
The Bill includes provisions relating to representation of women and members of the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes on the boards of multi-state cooperatives.
The bill will include provisions of the 97th Constitutional Amendment.
The Constitution (97th Amendment) Act, 2011 deals with the cooperative societies operating in India.
The bill will expand the composition of the board and ensure financial discipline, apart from enabling multi-state cooperatives to raise funds.
The Bill has specific provisions for the establishment of a Co-operative Election Authority, a Co-operative Information Officer and a Co-operative Ombudsman.
There is a provision to ban the offenders for three years to bring more electoral discipline.
The Bill provides for bringing in selected directors with experience in the fields of banking, management, cooperative management and finance.
Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002
Co-operative is a state subject, but there are many societies such as sugar and milk, banks, milk unions etc. whose members and areas of operation are spread over more than one state.
This act was passed to govern the multi state cooperative societies.
For example, the Karnataka-Maharashtra border has most of the sugar mills that procure sugarcane from both the states.
Maharashtra has the highest number of such cooperative societies followed by Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi.
8. NGT fines Delhi government Rs 900 crore for its failure in ‘solid waste management’
Tags: Science and Technology State News
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in an order passed on 12 October 2022 has ordered the Delhi government to pay Rs 900 crore as environmental compensation for improper management of solid municipal waste, stating that "citizens cannot be faced with an emergency situation due to lack of governance."
The NGT bench heard by Justice Adarsh Goel held the Delhi government responsible for not taking remedial steps to deal with the solid waste at the three landfills sites of Delhi- Ghazipur, Bhalswa, and Okhla .
The Bench said that there was continuous emission of methane and other harmful gasses along with groundwater contamination which posed a direct threat to the environment and people of Delhi.
The Bench directed the Delhi government to deposit the fine amount in a separate account which will be used by the Delhi Chief Secretary to for restoration of the environment by remediation of waste and other measures.
The NGT is monitoring compliance of Municipal Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016, and other environmental issues by states and Union territories.
National Green Tribunal
- It deals with cases relating to the environment protection and conservation of forest.
- It was set up in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010.
- The Tribunal is not bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but is guided by principles of natural justice.
- New Delhi is the Principal Place of Sitting of the Tribunal and Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai are other four places of sitting of the Tribunal.
Chairperson : Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel
9. Gujarat becomes first state to launch Gati Shakti Portal
Tags: National State News National News
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel launched the Gati Shakti Portal on 6 October and said that Gujarat is the first state in India to have launched Gati Shakti Port at the state level.
Important facts
In order to rapidly expand the Internet service, the Gati Shakti Portal started by the Central Government was also started by the Gujarat Government.
This portal has been started based on the guidance and guidelines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The portal has been developed by Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board in collaboration with Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics.
The portal will provide ease of doing business to the investors by bringing more transparency in governance. This will save time, money and logistics cost.
It will integrate more than 500 layers of data from 21 state government departments and 52 sub-departments.
Portal focuses on the speedy execution of infrastructure projects in the state.
The main objective of this portal is to reduce red tapism.
With the help of this, infrastructure projects will be accelerated.
PM Gati-Shakti Scheme
Gati Shakti Yojana or 'National Master Plan for Multi-Modal Connectivity Plan' was launched on 13 October 2021 for coordinated and execution of infrastructure projects to reduce logistics cost.
It is a digital platform that will bring together 16 Ministries including Railways and Roadways for integrated planning and coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects.
This will help in overcoming long-standing issues such as inconsistent planning, lack of standardisation, problems related to clearances, and timely construction and utilization of infrastructure capabilities.
This platform aims to prevent overlapping of works by addressing the issue of government departments working in tandem.
10. Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers concludes
Tags: National Summits National News
The three day "Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers" began on 1st October 2022 concluded on 3rd October in New Delhi.
Important facts
The Digital India Conference of State IT Ministers, along with the sixth edition of India Mobile Congress (IMC 2022) was inaugurated by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.
On the first day, detailed discussions were held with the States and Union Territories on the key priority areas of the Digital India initiative, chaired by the Minister of Communications, Electronics & Information Technology and Railways, Ashwini Vaishnav.
In his concluding remarks, Ashwini Vaishnav said that connectivity is the key to Digital India and its reach to every nook and corner of the country.
He said that Rs 26,000 crore has been sanctioned by the government for setting up 25,000 new towers in the next 500 days.
He congratulated all the States and Union Territories for swiftly joining PM Gati Shakti.
On the second day of the conference MeitY organized three sessions on important aspects like ‘IT Rules, Online Gaming and Data Governance’, ‘Digital India Bhashini & Digital Payment’, and ‘MyScheme and Meri Pehchaan’.
On the third day, MeitY organised five panel discussions.
The title of discussions were ‘Attracting Startups to Tier 2 Cities and Sustaining Them’, ‘Use of Emerging Tech in Public Services’, ‘Making India Talent Nation’, ‘Realization of Digital Government in States’, and ‘Make-in-India for the Globe – India as Semiconductor Nation’.
