1. MoU signs with UNDP for strategic partnership on Agriculture, Crop Insurance and Credit
Tags: National News
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and United Nations Development Program have signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
Under this UNDP will provide technical support towards Centre’s aspirational Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana scheme (PMFBY) and Kisan Credit Card - Modified Interest Subvention Scheme.
UNDP will support the Ministry of Agriculture for the implementation of combined agricultural credit and crop insurance.
While farmers paid a twenty one thousand crore rupees premium under PMFBY, they have received more than one lakh fifteen thousand crore rupees as compensation.
Under the Kisan Credit Card scheme, extensive efforts are being made to give benefits to those farmers who were not able to take advantage of the scheme earlier.
About The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
It is the leading agency of the United Nations.
It works to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality in 170 countries and territories.
It helps countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Its work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience.
2. MSME Secretary inaugurates ‘MEGA JOB FAIR’ in New Delhi
Tags: National News
MSME Secretary BB Swain inaugurated a 'Mega Job Fair' and a new testing facility for MSMEs at the Technical Service Centre of National Small Industries Corporation, Okhla in New Delhi.
Objective of this fair was to provide employment opportunities to the students who are passing out from different courses being conducted in the Centre.
More than 30 major companies were present with various job offers for the students.
About MSME Sector
The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector has emerged as a highly vibrant and dynamic sector of the Indian economy in the last five decades.
MSMEs play a vital role in providing large employment opportunities at comparatively low capital cost as compared to large industries.
It helps in industrialization of rural and backward areas, thereby reducing regional imbalances, ensuring equitable distribution of national income and wealth.
This sector contributes a lot to the socio-economic development of the country.
The Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises envision a vibrant MSME sector by promoting growth and development of the MSME Sector, including Khadi, Village and Coir Industries.
3. Over 18 crore Ayushman Cards issued under AB-PMJAY so far
Tags: National Government Schemes
According to the Health Ministry under Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB- PMJAY), more than 18 crore Ayushman cards have been issued so far.
This scheme has been implemented to provide health cover to the people.
This scheme has proved to be a boon for the poor people.
More than 3 crore 20 lakh people have availed the hospital facilities under the scheme.
About Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana ( AB- PMJAY)
launched in 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It has two components Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) and Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs).
Ayushman Bharat is the largest government funded healthcare program in the world.
It offers a sum insured of Rs5 lakh per family for secondary care as well as tertiary care.
Under the scheme cashless and paperless access to services are provided to the beneficiaries.
It is an entitlement-based scheme that targets the beneficiaries identified by the latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.
Funds for the scheme are shared between the Center and the states in a 60:40 ratio for all states.
4. India's hypertension control initiative
Tags: National News
A project called the India Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI) found that out of 2.1 million Indians, about 23% have uncontrolled blood pressure.
About Hypertension Control Initiative (IHCI)
Hypertension is a serious, and growing, health issue in India.
Keeping this fact in mind, the Ministry of Health, Indian Council of Medical Research, State Governments and WHO-India launched a five-year initiative for monitoring and treatment of hypertension.
The programme was launched in November 2017.
In the first year, 26 districts of five states - Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Maharashtra were covered under IHCI.
By December 2020, IHCI was expanded to 52 districts across ten States — Andhra Pradesh (1), Chhattisgarh (2), Karnataka (2), Kerala (4), Madhya Pradesh (6), Maharashtra (13), Punjab (5), Tamil Nadu (1), Telangana (13) and West Bengal (5).
What is Hypertension?
High blood pressure (hypertension) is a common condition in which the blood pressure on the artery walls is high, which can lead to a condition such as a heart attack.
Hypertension is defined as having systolic blood pressure level greater than or equal to 140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure level greater than or equal to 90 mmHg.
Need of IHCI
India is committed to reduce premature mortality due to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) by 25% by 2025.
One of the nine voluntary targets includes reducing the prevalence of high blood pressure by 25% by 2025.
5. US President Joe Biden to host ASEAN summit
Tags: Summits International News
US President Joe Biden will host leaders and top officials of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Washington DC.
Washington has focused on the Russo-Ukraine war as well as battling Chinese influence in the Indo Pacific.
The ASEAN "special summit" was postponed from late March just days before Biden's first visit to Asia as president.
ASEAN member state Myanmar, whose government was toppled on 1 February last year, will not participate in the summit.
The US wanted an 'apolitical' representative from Myanmar to attend the meeting.
ASEAN's 'five-point Consensus' to end the turmoil in Myanmar has not progressed since its release in April last year.
About ASEAN
Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN is an international organisation formed in Bangkok,Thailand in 1967.
It promotes economic development, peace, security, social progress and cultural development in the Southeast Asian region.
ASEAN Secretariat – Indonesia, Jakarta.
General Secretary of ASEAN - Lim Jock Hoi, Brunei
Official Languages - Burmese, Filipino, Indonesian, Khmer, Lao, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil, Thai and Vietnamese
Working Language - English
ASEAN Summit is the supreme policy making body of ASEAN.
ASEAN is third largest market in the world
It is the sixth largest economy in the world, third in Asia.
ASEAN has Free-trade agreements (FTAs) with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
ASEAN Member Countries
Indonesia
Malaysia
Philippines
Singapore
Thailand
Brunei
Vietnam
Laos
Myanmar
Cambodia
6. Gotabaya appoints Ranil as Sri Lanka Prime Minister
Tags: Person in news International News
Ranil Wickremesinghe, a veteran opposition MP, was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for the sixth time in an effort to end the current political crisis in the country.
Gotabaya's elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister on May 9.
Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) was wiped out in the 2020 general elections, with Rajapaksa winning a two-thirds majority.
Wickremesinghe is currently the only MP from his party.
Reason of crisis in Sri Lanka
Mahendra Rajapaksa announced huge tax cuts in his manifesto in the 2019 election, leading to a huge drop in revenue.
Sri Lanka is primarily a tourism-based economy. The Easter bombings in 2019 resulted in a sharp drop in tourist arrivals, which was further exacerbated by the COVID crisis.
Huge infrastructural debt.
Misguided policies of the authoritative regime
Due to Covid, there was a further decline in the export of tea, rubber and the tourism sector came to a standstill.
Remittances also dropped significantly
7. Country's first "Amrit Sarovar" to be inaugurated by Union Minister for Minority Affairs
Tags: National News
The country's first "Amrit Sarovar" will be inaugurated by Union Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Uttar Pradesh Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh on May 13, 2022 at Patwai, Rampur (UP).
Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for making at least 75 ponds in every district in the 75th year of India's independence, calling them 'Amrit Sarovar'.
The pond will not only help in protecting the environment and conserving water but will also be an attraction for the people.
Along with various amusements, boating will also be available in this pond.
8. GAIL to set up one of India’s largest PEM based Green Hydrogen project
Tags: National News
In line with the National Hydrogen Mission, GAIL (India) Limited will set up the largest Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyser in India.
The project will be set up at GAIL's Vijaypur Complex in Guna district of Madhya Pradesh and will be based on renewable energy.
The project is designed to produce approximately 4.3 metric tons of hydrogen per day (approximately 10 MW capacity) with an purity of about 99.999%.
It is scheduled to be commissioned by November 2023.
In January 2022 , GAIL had commenced India’s first-of-its-kind project of mixing Hydrogen into Natural Gas systems.
Hydrogen blended Natural Gas is being supplied by GAIL’s Joint Venture (JV) company with HPCL- Avantika Gas Limited (AGL).
9. Skill India International Centre to be set up at Varanasi
Tags: Latest National News
NSDC International (NSDCI) and the Indian unit of DP World, Hindustan Ports Private Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop a Skill India International Centre at Varanasi to skill Indian youth for pursuing overseas employment opportunities in logistics, port operations.
The Skill India International Centre in Varanasi will provide skills as per international standards and will prepare candidates for global markets.
Skill India International Centres aims to provide high quality training to Indian youth.
The centres would host training facilities, providing skills as per the demand of international employers in countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Canada, Australia and other countries.
It will also have a wide network of partner organisations and foreign recruiters to facilitate the supply of skilled and certified workforce to other countries.
These partnering organisations will work with NSDCI for aggregating demand from overseas markets.
About NSDC International Limited (NSDCI)
This is a subsidiary of National Skill Development Corporation that is driving Skill India International Mission of making India the Skill Capital of the World.
Its vision is to transform India into a preferred partner country for sourcing skilled and certified workforce across the globe.
It provides global job opportunities for NRIs and global career mobility for NRIs.
About DP World
Hindustan Ports Pvt Ltd is part of DP World, a leading provider of smart end-to-end supply chain logistics to enable business flow across the globe.
Its comprehensive range of products and services covers every link of the integrated supply chain.
10. PM Modi addresses 'Utkarsh Samaroh' in Bharuch
Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 'Utkarsh Samaroh' organised in Bharuch, Gujarat.
This program has been organised to commemorate the 100 percent saturation of four major schemes of the state government in the district.
These schemes will help in providing timely financial assistance to those in need.
About Utkarsh Initiative
The Bharuch district administration has launched the 'Utkarsh Initiative' campaign to ensure full coverage of schemes providing assistance to widows, elderly and destitute citizens.
This initiative includes four schemes Ganga Swaroopa Aarthik Sahay Yojana, Indira Gandhi Vrudh Sahay Yojana, Niradhar Vrudh Aarthik Sahay Yojana and Rashtriy Kutumb Sahay Yojana.
During the campaign from January to March this year, taluka-wise WhatsApp helpline numbers were announced to collect information about those who were not getting the benefits of the scheme.
Utkarsh camps were organised in all the villages and wards of the municipal areas of the district to collect the necessary documents for approval on the spot.
Utkarsh Sahayaks were also given incentives to make the campaign more convenient.
