Economy
Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) - National Mission for Financial Inclusion, completes seven years of successful implementation

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about PMJDY) + Mains ( GS III Financial inclusion)
What's the NEWS

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY), which is one of the biggest financial inclusion initiatives in the world completes seven years of successful implementation
• PMJDY was announced by Prime Minister in his Independence Day address on 15^th August 2014.

Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

• It is National Mission for Financial Inclusion to ensure access to financial services, namely, Banking/ Savings & Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance, Pension in an affordable manner.

Objectives:

• Ensure access of financial products & services at an affordable cost
• Use of technology to lower cost & widen reach

Basic tenets of the scheme

• Banking the unbanked - Opening of basic savings bank deposit (BSBD) account with minimal paperwork, relaxed KYC, e-KYC, account opening in camp mode, zero balance & zero charges
• Securing the unsecured - Issuance of Indigenous Debit cards for cash withdrawals & payments at merchant locations, with free accident insurance coverage of Rs. 2 lakh
• Funding the unfunded - Other financial products like micro-insurance, overdraft for consumption, micro-pension & micro-credit

Initial Features

• The scheme was launched based upon the following 6 pillars:
• Universal access to banking services - Branch and BC
• Basic savings bank accounts with overdraft facility of Rs. 10,000/- to every eligible adult
• Financial Literacy Program- Promoting savings, use of ATMs, getting ready for credit, availing insurance and pensions, using basic mobile phones for banking
• Creation of Credit Guarantee Fund - To provide banks some guarantee against defaults
• Insurance - Accident cover up to Rs. 1,00,000 and life cover of Rs. 30,000 on account opened between 15 Aug 2014 to 31 January 2015
• Pension scheme for Unorganized sector

Important approach adopted in PMJDY based on past experience:

1. Accounts opened are online accounts in core banking system of banks, in place of earlier method of offline accounts opening with technology lock-in with the vendor
2. Inter-operability through RuPay debit card or Aadhaar enabled Payment System (AePS)
3. Fixed-point Business Correspondents
4. Simplified KYC / e-KYC in place of cumbersome KYC formalities

Extension of PMJDY with New features

• The Government decided to extend the comprehensive PMJDY program beyond 28.8.2018 with some modifications
• Focus shift from ‘Every Household' to Every Unbanked Adult'
• RuPay Card Insurance - Free accidental insurance cover on RuPay cards increased from Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 2 lakh for PMJDY accounts opened after 28.8.2018.
• Enhancement in overdraft facilities -
• OD limit doubled from Rs 5,000/- to Rs 10,000/-; OD upto Rs 2,000/- (without conditions).
• Increase in upper age limit for OD from 60 to 65 years

Achievements under PMJDY
PMJDY Accounts

• Total number of total PMJDY Accounts: 43.04 Crore; 55.47% (23.87 crore) Jan-Dhan account holders are women and 66.69% (28.70 crore) Jan Dhan accounts are in rural and semi-urban areas

Operative PMJDY Accounts

• As per extant RBI guidelines, a PMJDY account is treated as inoperative if there are no customer induced transactions in the account for over a period of two years
• In August'21, out of total 43.04 crore PMJDY accounts, 36.86 crore (85.6%) are operative
• Only 8.2% PMJDY accounts are zero balance accounts

Deposits under PMJDY accounts

• Total deposit balances under PMJDY Accounts stand at Rs. 1,46,230 crore
• Deposits have increased about 6.38 times with increase in accounts 2.4 times (Aug'21 / Aug'15)

Jan Dhan Darshak App

• A mobile application, was launched to provide a citizen centric platform for locating banking touch points such as bank branches, ATMs, Bank Mitras, Post Offices, etc. in the country.
• Over 8 lakh banking touchpoints have been mapped on the GIS App.
• This app is also being used for identifying villages which are not served by banking touchpoints within 5 km. these identified villages are then allocated to various banks by concerned SLBCs for opening of banking outlets.

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) for PMJDY women beneficieries

• Under PM Garib Kalyan Yojana, an amount of Rs. 500/- per month for three months (April'20 to June'20), was credited to the accounts of women account holders under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY).

Governance
Bharat series (BH-series)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about BH-Series)
What's the NEWS

• In order to facilitate seamless transfer of vehicles, the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has introduced a new registration mark for new vehicles i.e. "Bharat series (BH-series)".
• A vehicle bearing this registration mark shall not require assignment of a new registration mark when the owner of the vehicle shifts from one State to another.

Format of Bharat series (BH-series) Registration Mark -
Registration Mark Format: -

• YY BH #### XX
• YY - Year of first registration
• BH- Code for Bharat Series
• ####- 0000 to 9999 (randomized)
• XX- Alphabets (AA to ZZ)

Know! more about Bharat series (BH-series)

• This vehicle registration facility under "Bharat series (BH-series)" will be available on voluntary basis to Defense personnel, employees of Central Government/ State Government/ Central/ State Public Sector Undertakings and private sector companies/organizations, which have their offices in four or more States/Union territories.
• The motor vehicle tax will be levied for two years or in multiple of two.
• This scheme will facilitate free movement of personal vehicles across States/UTs of India upon relocation to a new State/UT.
• After completion of the fourteenth year, the motor vehicle tax shall be levied annually which shall be half of the amount which was charged earlier for that vehicle.

Vehicle registration process (Earlier Provision)

• Re-registration of a vehicle while moving to another state.
• To transfer of registration from the parent state to another state as, under section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988
• A person is allowed to keep the vehicle for not more than 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered
• A new registration with the new state- registering authority has to be made within the stipulated time of 12 months.

A passenger vehicle user takes the following steps to re-register a vehicle:

• No Objection Certificate from the Parent State for assignment of a new registration mark in another state.
• Assignment of new registration mark after the road tax on prorata basis is paid in the new State
• Application for refund of the road tax in the parent State on pro rata basis.

Social Issues
POSHAN Abhiyaan

Relevance IN - Prelims ( all about POSHAN Abhiyaan) + Mains ( GS II Health + Social issues)
What's the NEWS

• POSHAN Abhiyaan is a Jan Andolan or "People's Movement" by incorporating inclusive participation of public representatives of local bodies, government departments of the States/UTs, social organizations and the public and private sector at large.
• In order to ensure community mobilization and bolster people's participation, every year, the month of September is celebrated as POSHAN Maah across the country.

Know! all about POSHAN Abhiyaan

• It is Government of India's flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, adolescent Girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• Launched by the Prime Minister on the occasion of International Women's Day on 8 March, 2018 from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, the POSHAN (Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan directs the attention of the country towards the problem of malnutrition and address it in a mission-mode.
• Focusing on the aims of POSHAN Abhiyaan, Mission Poshan 2.0 (Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0) has been announced in the Budget 2021-2022 as an integrated nutrition support programme, to strengthen nutritional content, delivery, outreach and outcomes with focus on developing practices that nurture health, wellness and immunity to disease and malnutrition.

Science & Technology
Researchers Discover Three Super-massive Black Holes Merging Together in Our Nearby Universe

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about triple active galactic nucleus) + Mains ( GS III awareness in the field of space)
What's the NEWS

• Indian researchers have discovered three supermassive black holes from three galaxies merging together to form a triple active galactic nucleus, a compact region at the center of a newly discovered galaxy that has a much-higher-than-normal luminosity.
• This rare occurrence in our nearby Universe indicates that small merging groups are ideal laboratories to detect multiple accreting supermassive black holes and increases the possibility of detecting such rare occurrences.

Supermassive black holes

• Supermassive black holes are difficult to detect because they do not emit any light.
• But they can reveal their presence by interacting with their surroundings.
• When the dust and gas from the surroundings fall onto a supermassive black hole, some of the mass is swallowed by the black hole, but some of it is converted into energy and emitted as electromagnetic radiation that makes the black hole appear very luminous.
• They are called active galactic nuclei (AGN) and release huge amounts of ionized particles and energy into the galaxy and its environment.
• Both of these ultimately contribute to the growth of the medium around the galaxy and ultimately the evolution of the galaxy itself.

Telescopes used

• The researchers used data from the Ultra-Violet Imaging Telescope (UVIT) onboard the first Indian space observatory ASTROSAT, the European integral field optical telescope called MUSE mounted on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile and infrared images from the optical telescope (IRSF) in South Africa.

Know! about Galaxy interactions

• If two galaxies collide, their black hole will also come closer by transferring the kinetic energy to the surrounding gas.
• The distance between the blackholes decreases with time until the separation is around a parsec (3.26 light-years).
• The two black holes are then unable to lose any further kinetic energy in order to get even closer and merge. This is known as the final parsec problem.
• The presence of a third black hole can solve this problem. The dual merging blackholes can transfer their energy to the third blackhole and merge with each other.
• Many AGN pairs have been detected in the past, but triple AGN are extremely rare, and only a handful has been detected before using X-ray observations.

National
The e-visa system
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about e-visa system) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• India has decided to "invalidate" or cancel all visas issued to Afghan nationals, including about 2,000 issued in the last few months
• Now, all Afghans must enter India now only on special e-visas applied online.
• The government was concerned that passports deposited by Afghan nationals for visas, which were being stored at the Indian Embassy and the Indian visa centre in Kabul, could get into the hands of anti-India terror groups. As a result, the Home Ministry decided to cancel them.

Know! about e-visa system

• The e-visa system is an innovation introduced by the government in 2014. The facility was expanded in 2017-2018.
• The process has its roots in the 2010 Tourist Visa on Arrival (TVOA) scheme for Japan, Singapore, Finland, Luxembourg and New Zealand.
• The government merged the TVOA with Electronic Travel Authorisation, thereby creating the e-visa.
• The Ministry of Home Affairs is the nodal ministry that issues visas to foreigners.
• An e-visa also called Electronic Visa is provided in five categories-tourist, business, conference, medical, and medical attendant.
• The facility is not available for the citizens of Pakistan and they are expected to apply for regular visas from the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.
• E-visas are not valid for foreign diplomats which are dealt separately.

Environment
BRICS Environment Ministers adopt the New Delhi Statement on Environment.
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about New Delhi Statement on Environment)
What's the NEWS

• At the 7^th meeting of the BRICS Environment Ministerial 2021, India stressed on the need for taking concrete collective global actions against global environment and climate challenge, guided by equity, national priorities and circumstances, and the principles of "Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities(CBDR-RC)".
• The meeting was held virtually ,under the chair of India and was participated by the Environment Ministers from the BRICS nations.

New Delhi Statement on Environment

• In the Meeting, the Environment Ministers adopted the New Delhi Statement on Environment, which is also aimed at furthering the spirit of Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation and Consensus in Environment among the BRICS Nations.
• The key areas proposed in the BRICS Environment Ministers' Statement, 2021 are guided by the issues, which may have primacy in COP 15 and COP 26. (2021 is a very crucial year not only for the BRICS but for the whole world as well, as we have UN Biodiversity COP 15 in October and UNFCCC COP 26 in November)

Prelims Factoids
Mera Watan, Mera Chaman Mushaira
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Mera Watan, Mera Chaman Mushaira -Ministry involved)
What's the NEWS

• Union Minority Affairs Ministry organised "Mera Watan, Mera Chaman" "Mushaira" in New Delhi as a part of "Amrit Mahotsav" of 75 years of India's Independence
• The Union Minority Affairs Ministry is organising "Mera Watan, Mera Chaman" "Mushairas" and "Kavi Sammelan" across the country till 2023, where renowned as well as emerging poets are giving effective messages full of glorious memories related to India's Independence movement.

Bilateral Relations
Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about GMCP) + Mains ( GS II bilateral relations)
What's the NEWS

• India will commence the Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP) -- the largest-ever infrastructure project -- in the Maldives.
• India will grant $100 million for the project besides a line of credit (not grant) worth Rs 400 million.
• A contract between AFCONS and Government of the Maldives was signed for construction of Greater Male Connectivity Project

Greater Male Connectivity Project (GMCP)

• This is India's largest infrastructure project in Maldives and also the largest infrastructure project in Maldives as a whole.
• Under this, a 74-km long bridge and causeway link will be constructed connecting Maldivian capital Male to three neighboring islands Villingili, Gulhifahu and Thilaphushi to facilitate inter-island connectivity.
• The Government of India has announced a financial package assistance of $ 100 million in the form of grant and $ 400 million as a 'Line of Credit' for Maldives.

Line of Credit

• A 'Soft Loan' given to developing countries at concessional interest rates is called a 'Line of Credit', which is to be repaid by the borrower government.

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