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Daily Current Capsules 22nd November 2021

Government Schemes/GSII
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin completes 5 years
What's the NEWS
  • The PMAY-G scheme, which was launched in November 2016, completed five years
  • About 1.63 crore houses with all basic amenities have been completed under the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana - Gramin (PMAY-G)
Know! all about Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G)
  • To achieve the objective of providing "Housing to All" by the year 2022, Modi government had launched the revamped rural housing scheme, Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) on 20 November 2016 with effect from 1 April 2016.
  • The programme envisages the completion of 2.95 crore PMAY-G houses with all basic amenities by the year 2022.
  • Apart from focusing on providing houses to the eligible beneficiaries, PMAY-G also addresses the basic needs of households through convergence with other government Schemes
  • The beneficiary is entitled to 90 to 95 person-days of unskilled labour from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurarntee Scheme (MNREGS).
  • The assistance for the construction of the toilet is leveraged through convergence with Swacch Bharat Mission - Grameen (SBM-G).
  • Convergence for piped drinking water, electricity connection, LPG gas connection etc. under different government programmes is also an inherent thematic component
  • An exercise for identification of households, who though eligible for assistance under PMAY-G as per the parameters specified under SECC-2011 but have not been included in the list of eligible beneficiaries and creating an additional list of eligible households was carried out by the Ministry of Rural Development through the States / UTs using Mobile Application "Awaas+".
  • The program is being implemented and monitored through end to end e-governance solutions, AwaasSoft and AwaasApp.
  • AwaasSoft provides functionalities for data entry and monitoring of multiple statistics related to implementation aspects of the scheme.
Education/GSII
Course on Experiential Learning

What's the NEWS
  • Ministry of Tribal Affairs and Chairman, CBSE, jointly launched a certificate course on Experiential Learning for the 21st Century for educators from CBSE and Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRSs) in collaboration with Tata Trusts, CETE, TISS (Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education, Tata Institute of Social Sciences), Mumbai and MGIS (Mahatma Gandhi International School), Ahmedabad.
Know! about the certificate course on Experiential Learning
  • The program will be deployed for 350 educators in 6 States.
  • The Experiential Learning for 21st Century Programme has been conceptualized as an online certificate course for educators - teachers, school heads and principals to help them adapt classroom learning to real life experiences.
  • The program will be offered free of cost to all the selected teachers and principals from 20th November 2021 onwards.
  • Select teachers will be recognized as "Teacher Leaders" by MoTA and will espouse the Experiential Learning Pedagogy to the EMRS teaching fraternity in a phased manner.
  • The course will capacitate the teachers to equip the students with 21st century skills and learning processes.
  • It is a 6 week program covering 4 modules supported with virtual webinars to discuss the teachers' understandings and assist them along with the course learnings.
  • The experiential learning program will provide tribal students an occasion to bloom their own experiences and learnings through their own contextual understanding.
The Experiential Learning for 21st Century Programme aims to:
  • Sensitize teachers towards multi-sensorial pedagogical experiences with a special focus on the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of students.
  • Enable teachers to construct alternative strategies to develop 21st-century skills and competencies in their students.
  • Guide teachers to map learning experiences to concepts and competencies.
  • Transform teachers as active members, contributing to a community of educators.
  • Support upskilling of teachers as teacher-leaders.
Government Policies and interventions/GSII
Swachh Amrit Mahotsav
What's the NEWS
  • The President of India Shri Ram Nath Kovind felicitated the awardees of the cleanest cities of India at the ‘Swachh Amrit Mahotsav' hosted as part of Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 by Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA)
  • The award ceremony, organized to recognize the good work done for Swachhata by towns/ cities, States and Union Territories under various initiatives of the Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban), viz. Swachh Survekshan 2021, Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge, and certifications for Garbage Free Star rating for cities
Swachh Amrit Mahotsav - highlights
  • For the fifth consecutive year, Indore was awarded the title of India's Cleanest City under Swachh Survekshan, while Surat and Vijayawada bagged the second and third spots respectively in the ‘more than 1 lakh population' category.
  • In the population category of ‘less than 1 lakh', Vita, Lonavala and Sasvad, all from Maharashtra, bagged the first, second and third positions respectively.
  • Varanasi emerged as the ‘Best Ganga Town' while Ahmedabad Cantonment won the title of ‘India's Cleanest Cantonment', followed by Meerut Cantonment and Delhi Cantonment.
  • In the category of ‘Fastest Mover', Hoshangabad (Madhya Pradesh) emerged as the ‘Fastest Mover City' (in the ‘more than 1 lakh population' category)
  • In the State awards, Chhattisgarh, for the third consecutive year emerged as the ‘Cleanest State' in the category of "more than 100 Urban Local Bodies" while Jharkhand, for the second time, won the Cleanest State award in the "less than 100 ULBs category".
  • Karnataka and Mizoram became the ‘Fastest Mover States' in the big (more than 100 ULBs) and small (less than 100 ULBs) state category respectively.
Prerak Daaur Samman
  • A new performance category introduced under Swachh Survekshan 2021, five cities - Indore, Surat, Navi Mumbai, New Delhi Municipal Council and Tirupati were categorized as ‘Divya' (Platinum).
Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities
  • Results of 3-star and 5-star rated cities under the Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities were also announced
  • A total of 9 cities - Indore, Surat, New Delhi Municipal Council, Navi Mumbai, Ambikapur, Mysuru, Noida, Vijayawada and Patan- have been certified as 5 star cities while 143 cities have been certified as 3 star.
  • The Star Rating Protocol of Garbage Free Cities was introduced as a SMART framework by MoHUA in 2018, to holistically evaluate cities across solid waste management parameters.
Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0
  • It was launched on 1st October, 2021, will focus on ensuring complete access to sanitation facilities for all.
  • Taking a giant leap forward in this digital journey, the Ministry launched the revamped Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 website and the integrated MIS portal ‘Swachhatam'.
  • Additionally, a futuristic and state-of-the-art spatial GIS platform was launched that will further propel the Mission towards smart, data driven decision making.
Miscellaneous/Government Schemes/GSII
World Fisheries Day on Nov 21
What's the NEWS
  • The Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India and National Fisheries Development, is celebrating the ‘World Fisheries Day' on 21st November 2021
  • Prime Minister in May, 2020 had launched the "Pradhan Mantri MatsyaSampada Yojana (PMMSY) with a budget of over Rs.20,050 crores for a period of five years.
  • PMMSY aims to achieve fish production of 22 MMT from the current 15.0 MMT by 2024-25 and to create an additional employment opportunity to about 55 lakh people through this sector.
Know! about World Fisheries Day
  • World Fisheries Day is celebrated on 21st November every year to demonstrate solidarity with all fisherfolk, fish farmers and concerned stakeholders throughout the world.
  • It started in 1997 where "World Forum of Fish Harvesters & Fish Workers" met at New Delhi leading to formation of "World Fisheries Forum" with representatives from 18 countries and signed a declaration advocating for a global mandate of sustainable fishing practices and policies.
  • The event aims to draw attention to overfishing, habitat destruction and other serious threats to the sustainability of our marine and freshwater resources.
  • The celebrations serve to focus on changing the way the world manages global fisheries to ensure sustainable stocks and healthy ecosystems.
Prelims Factoids
Exercise Ex Shakti 2021
What's the NEWS
  • The Sixth Edition of Indo - France joint military exercise "Ex SHAKTI 2021" has commenced at the Military School of Draguignan, France
  • The Indian Army contingent is being represented by a composite team of three Officers, three Junior Commissioned Officers and 37 soldiers from a battalion of Gorkha Rifles and support Arms.
  • The training so far has focused on aspects of joint planning, mutual understanding of conduct of operations and identification of coordination aspects required for jointly operating in a Counter Terrorism environment under United Nations mandate.
  • The exercise is being conducted in two phases which will culminate with a grueling 36 hours exercise to validate the standards achieved during the two phases.
  • The contingent apart from joint training went to visit MAZARGUES War Cemetery in Marseilles where 1,002 Indian soldiers of the First World War have been cremated.
Defence/Indigenisation of technology
INS Visakhapatnam commissioned into Indian Navy

What's the NEWS
  • INS Visakhapatnam, a P15B stealth guided missile destroyer, was commissioned into the Indian Navy at the Naval Dockyard, Mumbai on November 21, 2021.
  • The event marks the formal induction of the first of the four ‘Visakhapatnam' class destroyers, indigenously designed by the Indian Navy's in-house organisation Directorate of Naval Design and constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai.
Indigenous Aircraft Carrier 'INS Vikrant'
  • INS Visakhapatnam measures 163m in length, 17m in breadth with a displacement of 7,400 tonnes and can rightfully be regarded as one of the most potent warships to have been constructed in India.
  • The ship is propelled by four powerful Gas Turbines, in a Combined Gas and Gas (COGAG) configuration, capable of achieving speeds in excess of 30 knots.
  • The ship has enhanced stealth features resulting in a reduced Radar Cross Section (RCS) achieved through efficient shaping of hull, full beam superstructure design, plated masts and use of radar transparent materials on exposed decks.
  • The ship is packed with sophisticated state-of-the-art weapons and sensors such as Surface-to-Surface missile and Surface-to-Air missiles.
  • It is fitted with a modern surveillance radar which provides target data to the gunnery weapon systems of the ship.
  • The anti-submarine warfare capabilities are provided by the indigenously developed rocket launchers, torpedo launchers and ASW helicopters.
  • The ship is equipped to fight under Nuclear, Biological and Chemical (NBC) warfare conditions.
  • A unique feature of this ship is the high level of indigenisation incorporated in the production, accentuating the national objective of ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat'.
  • Some of the major indigenised equipment/system onboard INS Visakhapatnam include Combat Management System, Rocket Launcher, Torpedo Tube Launcher, Integrated Platform Management System, Automated Power Management System, Foldable Hangar Doors, Helo Traversing system, Close-in Weapon System and the Bow mounted SONAR.

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