Daily Current Capsules - 8^th JUNE 2019

PM Modi reconstitutes NITI Aayog

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about NITI Aayog) ( MAINS GS II governance and GS III economic developments , policies and programmes of NITI Aayog)
What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved reconstitution of policy think tank Niti Aayog, renaming Rajiv Kumar as its vice chairman and appointing home minister Amit Shah as ex-officio member.
• Rajiv Kumar will continue to be the vice-chairperson, along with full time members-Ramesh Chand, VK Saraswat and VK Paul.
• According to official sources, besides Amit Shah, defence minister Rajnath Singh, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar will be ex-officio members.
• Transport minister Nitin Gadkari, commerce and industry and railway minister Piyush Goyal, social justice minister Thawar Chand Gehlot and statistics minister Rao Inderjit Singh will be special invitees to the panel.

Know! all about NITI Aayog

• NITI Aayog was constituted via a resolution of the Union Cabinet on January 1, 2015, replacing the erstwhile planning commission.

• The NITI Aayog (Hindi for Policy Commission) is a policy think tank of the Government of India, established with the aim to achieve Sustainable Development Goals and to enhance cooperative federalism by fostering the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach.
• Its initiatives include "15 year road map", "7-year vision, strategy and action plan", AMRUT, Digital India, Atal Innovation Mission, Medical Education Reform, agriculture reforms (Model Land Leasing Law, Reforms of the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act, Agricultural Marketing and Farmer Friendly Reforms Index for ranking states), Indices Measuring States' Performance in Health, Education and Water Management
• Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Rationalization of Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Sub-Group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development, Task Forces on Agriculture and op of Poverty, and Transforming India Lecture Series.
• It was established in 2015, by the NDA government, to replace the Planning Commission which followed a top-down model. The Prime Minister is the Ex-officio chairman.
• The permanent members of the governing council are all the state Chief Ministers, along with the Chief Ministers of Delhi and Puducherry, the Lieutenant Governor of Andaman and Nicobar, and a vice chairman nominated by the Prime Minister.
• In addition, temporary members are selected from leading universities and research institutions. These members include a chief executive officer, four ex-official members and two part-time members.

Social Justice
India ranks 95 among 129 countries in global gender equality index

Relevance IN - Prelims 9 about the global gender equality index)
What's the NEWS

• India ranks 95 out of 129 countries, below countries such as Ghana, Rwanda and Bhutan in a new gender equality index released on the second day of the ‘Women Deliver Conference'. Out of a maximum score of 100 based on the country's performance on the gender parameter of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) India scored 56.2.

Know! more about the report

• The index, covering 14 of the 17 SDGs, measures countries on 51 issues ranging from health, gender-based violence, climate change, decent work and others.
• The global average score of the 129 countries-which represents 95% of the world's girls and women- is 65.7 out of 100 ("poor" in the index scoring system).
• No one country is the world's best performer-or even among the world's top ten performers-across all goals or all issues.
• The Sustainable Development Goals Gender Index has been developed by UK-based Equal Measures 2030, a joint effort of regional and global organisations including African Women's Development and Communication Network, Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and International Women's Health Coalition.
• The new index includes 51 indicators across 14 of the 17 official Sustainable Development Goals and covers 129 countries across all regions of the world.
• The index has ranked India at 95 among 129 countries with India's highest goal scores are on SDG 3 of health (79.9), SDG 2 of hunger and nutrition (76.2) and
• India's lowest goal scores are on SDG 17 of partnerships (18.3, in the bottom 10 countries worldwide on the goal), SDG 9 of industry, infrastructure and innovation (38.1) and SDG 13 of climate (43.4).
• India, along with neighbours Pakistan and Bangladesh, lost out on the education index even though the report noted that large strides had been made.
• One of the sub-regions facing persistent challenges in gender equality in education is South Asia, particularly Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan.
• India ranks toward the bottom of the Asia and the Pacific region, ranking 17^th out of the 23 Asia and the Pacific countries covered by the index.
• Denmark was ranked at the first place and Chad at 129^th place. China ranked at 74 position, Pakistan at 113 while Nepal and Bangladesh at 102 and 110 respectively, the index said.
• India scored 56.2 points. The overall index score and individual goal scores are based on a scale of 0-100. A score of 100 reflects the achievement of gender equality in relation to the underlying indicators.

International affairs
Russia opens first Arctic train service


Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the arctic train service + about arctic circle)
What's the NEWS

• The first tourist train travelling through Russia's Arctic region and on to Norway set off from Saint Petersburg station with 91 passengers aboard for the inaugural trial journey.

Know! more about the train service

• The train, named "Zarengold" ("The Tsars gold" in German) complete with two restaurant cars will travel from Saint Petersburg through Petrozavodsk, the historic town of Kem and Murmansk.
• At Murmansk, by far the largest city north of the Arctic Circle, the tourists will get off the train and continue by bus to Kirkenes in Norway before ending their journey with a boat trip to Oslo or by air to the island of Spitsbergen.
• The whole trip will take 11 days and allow passengers to discover areas difficult to access by other means, according to the organisers.
• As global warming is breaking up the glaciers in Arctic region, Russia tries to foresee new trading routes and opportunities in it. With this new advancement in connectivity Russia hopes to become top economic and military power in Arctic region.

Arctic Circle

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