Government Schemes

PM launches “PM-KISAN” from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about PM-KISAN) + Mains (GS III farmer welfare + issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidy) 

What’s the NEWS

• The Prime Minister, launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) from Gorakhpur.
• With the launch,the first instalment of Rs 2,000 will be directly credited to the bank accounts of selected beneficiary farmers.
• About 12 crore farmers are expected to benefit from PM-KISAN.

Know! more about PM KISAN

• PM KISAN is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from the Government of India. It has become operational from 1.12.2018.
• Under the scheme, income support of Rs.6000/- per year in three equal instalments will be provided to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding/ownership of up to 2 hectares.
• The Prime Minister said that PM-KISAN depends on direct transfer, and therefore the entire amount will reach the beneficiary.
• The amount will be given in three instalments of Rs 2,000 each and will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.
• The Direct Benefit Transfer will ensure transparency in the process and save time for farmers. The Scheme was introduced to augment the income of small and marginal farmers and is estimated to benefit over 12 crore farmers.
• The PM-KISAN scheme aims to supplement the financial needs of small and marginal farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income at the end of each crop cycle.

Women Empowerment

MSME Ministry’s First Conclave on Empowering Marginalised Sections’ Women Entrepreneurs
Relevance IN – Prelims( about MSME recent updates) + Mains (GS I women organisation + GS II social justice) 

What’s the NEWS

• Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME, will organise a Conclave “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs 2019, Financing & Enabling Women from Marginalised Sections

Know! more about the conclave

• The first of its kind conclave endeavours to empower women entrepreneurs from marginalised sections and enable their growth  and success in business by offering substantial knowledge on various business opportunities and national best practices in doing business.
• The conclave is being organized under National SC-ST Hub initiative of the MSME ministry which is targeted towards developing a supportive ecosystem towards SC/ST entrepreneurs.
  
• Issues of access to financing, assessing risks and growth mantras enabling SC-ST women entrepreneur to setup and run a sustainable business   will be discussed during the day long programme.

 
Human Resource Development

Grand Finale of third edition (Software) of Smart India Hackathon- 2019
Relevance IN – Prelims( about Hackathon 2019 ) + Mains ( GS II issues relating to development and management of education and human resource)

What’s the NEWS                       

• The third edition (Software) of the biggest ever Smart India Hackthon - 2019 going to be held at 48 nodal centres across the country simultaneously.

Know! more about the Hackthon

• Smart India Hackathon is a unique initiative to identify new and disruptive digital technology innovations for solving the challenges faced by our country.
  
• It is a non-stop digital product development competition, where problems are posed to technology students for innovative solutions. 
  
• The Grand Finale of third edition (Software) of Smart India Hackathon- 2019 will be held on 2nd – 3rd March, 2019. 
  
• In SIH 2019, the students would also have the opportunity to work on challenges faced within the private sector organisations and create world class solutions for some of the top companies in the world, thus helping the Private sector hire the best minds from across the nation.
  
• The SIH is the largest ever Hackathon in the world and the only one to be held at the national level.
  
• So far, two editions of SIH have been conducted successfully.
  

Know! about SIH 2017 and 2018

• The first two editions SIH-2017 and SIH-2018 proved to be extremely successful in promoting innovation, out-of-the-box thinking in young minds, especially engineering students from across India.
  
• 'Smart India Hackathon 2017' was conducted as a pan India 36 hour non-stop digital programming competition where participating teams have simultaneously competed from across 26 locations in India to offer digital yet sustainable innovative solutions to solve real time challenges faced by the nation.
  
• SIH- 2018 was the second massive scale Hackathon initiative in India following Smart India Hackathon, 2017.
  
• SIH-2018 was much bigger than its previous edition. It included 2 sub-editions:
• Software edition, which was a non-stop 36 hour software product development competition, held on Mar 30 & 31, 2018.
• The Hardware edition, involving building of hardware solutions was inaugurated on 18.06.2018.
• SIH 2019 is even bigger and better than SIH 2018. As compared to about 17,400 entries during SIH-2018 from over 1 lakh students

 

International Relations

Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
Relevance IN – Prelims( about FATF) + Mains ( GS III economic development + GS II international relation )

What’s the NEWS

• Condemning the Pulwama February 14 attack, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), issued a stern statement to Pakistan to comply with an action plan on terror financing or face further action, according to a decision taken at its plenary session in Paris.
  
• The week-long deliberations of the 37-member group decided not to remove Pakistan from the ‘grey list’, as Islamabad had lobbied for, but also did not accept an Indian demand to move Pakistan to the ‘black list’ yet.
  
• The ‘grey-listing’ continued despite a last-minute decision by the Pakistan government on Thursday to put the Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e Insaniat Foundation (FIF), two offshoots of the Hafiz Saeed-led Lashkar-e-Taiba on its ‘schedule-1’ list of banned organisations.
  

Know! about FATF

• The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF),  is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
  
• In 2001 its mandate expanded to include terrorism financing. It monitors progress in implementing the FATF Recommendations through "peer reviews" ("mutual evaluations") of member countries.
  
• The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
  
• FATF was formed by the 1989 G7 Summit in Paris to combat the growing problem of money laundering. The task force was charged with studying money laundering trends, monitoring legislative, financial and law enforcement activities taken at the national and international level, reporting on compliance, and issuing recommendations and standards to combat money laundering. At the time of its formation, FATF had 16 members, which by 2016 had grown to 37. India is a member
  
• In its first year, FATF issued a report containing forty recommendations to more effectively fight money laundering. These standards were revised in 2003 to reflect evolving patterns and techniques in money laundering.
  
• The mandate of the organisation was expanded to include terrorist financing following the September 11 terror attacks in 2001.
  
• The FATF's primary policies issued are the Forty Recommendations on money laundering from 1990  and the Nine Special Recommendations (SR) on Terrorism Financing (TF).
  
• Together, the Forty Recommendations and Special Recommendations on Terrorism Financing set the international standard for anti-money laundering measures and combating the financing of terrorism and terrorist acts.
  
• In addition to FATF's "Forty plus Nine" Recommendations, in 2000 FATF issued a list of "Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories" (NCCTs), commonly called the FATF Blacklist.
  
• This was a list of 15 jurisdictions that, for one reason or another, FATF members believed were uncooperative with other jurisdictions in international efforts against money laundering (and, later, terrorism financing).

Defence

AK-103 assault rifles

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about the agreement between India – Russia)

What’s the NEWS

India and Russia are close to concluding an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for a multi-billion deal to locally bulk manufacture AK-103 assault rifles

Know! more about the agreement

• India has signed several multi-billion dollar defence deals with Russia in the last couple of years and more are in the pipeline.
  
• There will be direct business negotiations between Kalashnikov from Russia  and India’s Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)
  
• The Army has recently signed a contract for 72,400 assault rifles from Sig Sauer of the U.S. and another tender for 93,895 Close Quarter Battle (CQB) carbines is in advanced stage of conclusion. These rifles are for frontline troops deployed in forward areas.
• The Army is looking to replace the indigenous INSAS (Indian National Small Arms System) rifles in use with a modern rifle.
• The AK-103 will be bulk produced by the OFB with technology transfer.
  

Bio – Technology

Travel on a jet plane, using a little cooking oil

Scientists have successfully tested the conversion of used edible oil into Bio-ATF
Relevance IN – Prelims( about the bio fuel) + Mains ( GS III awareness in  the field of bio-technology)

What’s the NEWS

• The Dehradun-based Indian Institute of Petroleum has successfully finished a pilot test to convert used cooking oil into bio-aviation turbine fuel (Bio-ATF), which can be blended with conventional ATF and used as aircraft fuel.
  
• The Institute collected used cooking oil from caterers and hotels in Dehradun for the pilot, which has now set the platform for commercial use of the technology
  
• The chemical composition of the used cooking oil is identical to other plant-based oils that have been converted to Bio-ATF.Bio-ATF production is possible from used cooking oil
  
• The Bio-ATF derived from used cooking oil is yet to be tested on a flight. The pilot test has proven that it is very similar to Bio-ATF derived from jatropha oil.
  
• The test assumes importance as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched the Repurpose Cooking Oil (RUCO) initiative to collect and convert used cooking oil into bio-fuel.
• Reducing the re-use of cooking oil in the food industry will have positive public health outcomes and its conversion into Bio-ATF will help the aviation sector reduce its carbon footprint

Social Justice

Labour Bureau files MUDRA job report

Relevance IN – Prelims( about the survey) + Mains (GS II social justice)

What’s the NEWS

• The Labour Bureau has completed its survey on employment generated by the MUDRA loan scheme, giving the Centre a potential data tool to combat other reports showing a dismal scenario on jobs.
  

Know! about The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

• It  was introduced in April 2015 as an effort to extend affordable credit to micro and small enterprises.
• Loans up to ₹10 lakh are extended to these non-corporate, non-farm enterprises by the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) through last-mile financial institutions. So far, 15.56 crore loans worth a total of ₹7.23 lakh crore have been disbursed.
  
• One recommendation was to analyse the extent of employment and self-employment generated by MUDRA loans.
  
• Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) is a scheme launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on April 8, 2015 for providing loans upto 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises.
  
• These loans are classified as MUDRA loans under PMMY.
  
• These loans are given by Commercial Banks, RRBs, Small Finance Banks, Cooperative Banks, MFIs and NBFCs.
  
• The borrower can approach any of the lending institutions mentioned above or can apply online through this portal.
  
• Under the aegis of PMMY, MUDRA has created three products namely 'Shishu', 'Kishore' and 'Tarun' to signify the stage of growth / development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit / entrepreneur and also provide a reference point for the next phase of graduation / growth.
  

Information Technology

PM launches “PM-KISAN” from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about PM-KISAN) + Mains (GS III farmer welfare + issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidy) 

What’s the NEWS

• The Prime Minister, launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) from Gorakhpur.
• With the launch,the first instalment of Rs 2,000 will be directly credited to the bank accounts of selected beneficiary farmers.
• About 12 crore farmers are expected to benefit from PM-KISAN.

Know! more about PM KISAN

• PM KISAN is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from the Government of India. It has become operational from 1.12.2018.
• Under the scheme, income support of Rs.6000/- per year in three equal instalments will be provided to small and marginal farmer families having combined land holding/ownership of up to 2 hectares.
• The Prime Minister said that PM-KISAN depends on direct transfer, and therefore the entire amount will reach the beneficiary.
• The amount will be given in three instalments of Rs 2,000 each and will be transferred directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.
• The Direct Benefit Transfer will ensure transparency in the process and save time for farmers. The Scheme was introduced to augment the income of small and marginal farmers and is estimated to benefit over 12 crore farmers.
• The PM-KISAN scheme aims to supplement the financial needs of small and marginal farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm income at the end of each crop cycle.

Women Empowerment

MSME Ministry’s First Conclave on Empowering Marginalised Sections’ Women Entrepreneurs
Relevance IN – Prelims( about MSME recent updates) + Mains (GS I women organisation + GS II social justice) 

What’s the NEWS

• Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME, will organise a Conclave “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs 2019, Financing & Enabling Women from Marginalised Sections

Know! more about the conclave

• The first of its kind conclave endeavours to empower women entrepreneurs from marginalised sections and enable their growth  and success in business by offering substantial knowledge on various business opportunities and national best practices in doing business.
• The conclave is being organized under National SC-ST Hub initiative of the MSME ministry which is targeted towards developing a supportive ecosystem towards SC/ST entrepreneurs.
  
• Issues of access to financing, assessing risks and growth mantras enabling SC-ST women entrepreneur to setup and run a sustainable business   will be discussed during the day long programme.

 
Human Resource Development

Grand Finale of third edition (Software) of Smart India Hackathon- 2019
Relevance IN – Prelims( about Hackathon 2019 ) + Mains ( GS II issues relating to development and management of education and human resource)

What’s the NEWS                       

• The third edition (Software) of the biggest ever Smart India Hackthon - 2019 going to be held at 48 nodal centres across the country simultaneously.

Know! more about the Hackthon

• Smart India Hackathon is a unique initiative to identify new and disruptive digital technology innovations for solving the challenges faced by our country.
  
• It is a non-stop digital product development competition, where problems are posed to technology students for innovative solutions. 
  
• The Grand Finale of third edition (Software) of Smart India Hackathon- 2019 will be held on 2nd – 3rd March, 2019. 
  
• In SIH 2019, the students would also have the opportunity to work on challenges faced within the private sector organisations and create world class solutions for some of the top companies in the world, thus helping the Private sector hire the best minds from across the nation.
  
• The SIH is the largest ever Hackathon in the world and the only one to be held at the national level.
  
• So far, two editions of SIH have been conducted successfully.
  

Know! about SIH 2017 and 2018

• The first two editions SIH-2017 and SIH-2018 proved to be extremely successful in promoting innovation, out-of-the-box thinking in young minds, especially engineering students from across India.
  
• 'Smart India Hackathon 2017' was conducted as a pan India 36 hour non-stop digital programming competition where participating teams have simultaneously competed from across 26 locations in India to offer digital yet sustainable innovative solutions to solve real time challenges faced by the nation.
  
• SIH- 2018 was the second massive scale Hackathon initiative in India following Smart India Hackathon, 2017.
  
• SIH-2018 was much bigger than its previous edition. It included 2 sub-editions:
• Software edition, which was a non-stop 36 hour software product development competition, held on Mar 30 & 31, 2018.
• The Hardware edition, involving building of hardware solutions was inaugurated on 18.06.2018.
• SIH 2019 is even bigger and better than SIH 2018. As compared to about 17,400 entries during SIH-2018 from over 1 lakh students

 

International Relations

Financial Action Task Force (FATF)
Relevance IN – Prelims( about FATF) + Mains ( GS III economic development + GS II international relation )

What’s the NEWS

• Condemning the Pulwama February 14 attack, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), issued a stern statement to Pakistan to comply with an action plan on terror financing or face further action, according to a decision taken at its plenary session in Paris.
  
• The week-long deliberations of the 37-member group decided not to remove Pakistan from the ‘grey list’, as Islamabad had lobbied for, but also did not accept an Indian demand to move Pakistan to the ‘black list’ yet.
  
• The ‘grey-listing’ continued despite a last-minute decision by the Pakistan government on Thursday to put the Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) and the Falah-e Insaniat Foundation (FIF), two offshoots of the Hafiz Saeed-led Lashkar-e-Taiba on its ‘schedule-1’ list of banned organisations.
  

Know! about FATF

• The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF),  is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.
  
• In 2001 its mandate expanded to include terrorism financing. It monitors progress in implementing the FATF Recommendations through "peer reviews" ("mutual evaluations") of member countries.
  
• The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.
  
• FATF was formed by the 1989 G7 Summit in Paris to combat the growing problem of money laundering. The task force was charged with studying money laundering trends, monitoring legislative, financial and law enforcement activities taken at the national and international level, reporting on compliance, and issuing recommendations and standards to combat money laundering. At the time of its formation, FATF had 16 members, which by 2016 had grown to 37. India is a member
  
• In its first year, FATF issued a report containing forty recommendations to more effectively fight money laundering. These standards were revised in 2003 to reflect evolving patterns and techniques in money laundering.
  
• The mandate of the organisation was expanded to include terrorist financing following the September 11 terror attacks in 2001.
  
• The FATF's primary policies issued are the Forty Recommendations on money laundering from 1990  and the Nine Special Recommendations (SR) on Terrorism Financing (TF).
  
• Together, the Forty Recommendations and Special Recommendations on Terrorism Financing set the international standard for anti-money laundering measures and combating the financing of terrorism and terrorist acts.
  
• In addition to FATF's "Forty plus Nine" Recommendations, in 2000 FATF issued a list of "Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories" (NCCTs), commonly called the FATF Blacklist.
  
• This was a list of 15 jurisdictions that, for one reason or another, FATF members believed were uncooperative with other jurisdictions in international efforts against money laundering (and, later, terrorism financing).

Defence

AK-103 assault rifles
Relevance IN – Prelims ( about the agreement between India – Russia)

What’s the NEWS

• India and Russia are close to concluding an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for a multi-billion deal to locally bulk manufacture AK-103 assault rifles

Know! more about the agreement

• India has signed several multi-billion dollar defence deals with Russia in the last couple of years and more are in the pipeline.
  
• There will be direct business negotiations between Kalashnikov from Russia  and India’s Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)
  
• The Army has recently signed a contract for 72,400 assault rifles from Sig Sauer of the U.S. and another tender for 93,895 Close Quarter Battle (CQB) carbines is in advanced stage of conclusion. These rifles are for frontline troops deployed in forward areas.
• The Army is looking to replace the indigenous INSAS (Indian National Small Arms System) rifles in use with a modern rifle.
• The AK-103 will be bulk produced by the OFB with technology transfer.
  

Bio – Technology

Travel on a jet plane, using a little cooking oil

Scientists have successfully tested the conversion of used edible oil into Bio-ATF
Relevance IN – Prelims( about the bio fuel) + Mains ( GS III awareness in  the field of bio-technology)

What’s the NEWS

• The Dehradun-based Indian Institute of Petroleum has successfully finished a pilot test to convert used cooking oil into bio-aviation turbine fuel (Bio-ATF), which can be blended with conventional ATF and used as aircraft fuel.
  
• The Institute collected used cooking oil from caterers and hotels in Dehradun for the pilot, which has now set the platform for commercial use of the technology
  
• The chemical composition of the used cooking oil is identical to other plant-based oils that have been converted to Bio-ATF.Bio-ATF production is possible from used cooking oil
  
• The Bio-ATF derived from used cooking oil is yet to be tested on a flight. The pilot test has proven that it is very similar to Bio-ATF derived from jatropha oil.
  
• The test assumes importance as the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has launched the Repurpose Cooking Oil (RUCO) initiative to collect and convert used cooking oil into bio-fuel.
• Reducing the re-use of cooking oil in the food industry will have positive public health outcomes and its conversion into Bio-ATF will help the aviation sector reduce its carbon footprint

Social Justice

Labour Bureau files MUDRA job report
Relevance IN – Prelims( about the survey) + Mains (GS II social justice)

What’s the NEWS

• The Labour Bureau has completed its survey on employment generated by the MUDRA loan scheme, giving the Centre a potential data tool to combat other reports showing a dismal scenario on jobs.
  

Know! about The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana

• It  was introduced in April 2015 as an effort to extend affordable credit to micro and small enterprises.
• Loans up to ₹10 lakh are extended to these non-corporate, non-farm enterprises by the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency (MUDRA) through last-mile financial institutions. So far, 15.56 crore loans worth a total of ₹7.23 lakh crore have been disbursed.
  
• One recommendation was to analyse the extent of employment and self-employment generated by MUDRA loans.
  
• Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) is a scheme launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister on April 8, 2015 for providing loans upto 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises.
  
• These loans are classified as MUDRA loans under PMMY.
  
• These loans are given by Commercial Banks, RRBs, Small Finance Banks, Cooperative Banks, MFIs and NBFCs.
  
• The borrower can approach any of the lending institutions mentioned above or can apply online through this portal.
  
• Under the aegis of PMMY, MUDRA has created three products namely 'Shishu', 'Kishore' and 'Tarun' to signify the stage of growth / development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit / entrepreneur and also provide a reference point for the next phase of graduation / growth.

Information Technology

India to have own DNS for safe browsing
Relevance IN – Prelims (about DNS) + Mains (GS III awareness in the field of cyber security )

What’s the NEWS

• The government will soon roll out a public Domain Name Server, or DNS, for India aimed at providing a faster and more secure browsing experience for Internet users in the country, while ensuring that citizens’ data is stored locally.

Know! about DNS

• A DNS is a like a directory for the Internet. It helps to convert domain names that are easy for people to remember into IP addresses, which are used by computers/machines to communicate.
  
• If the DNS is either slow or fails to work, users will not be able to locate web addresses.
• The main aim of bringing  own public DNS is to ensure availability, particularly for smaller Interest Service Providers (ISPs) who don’t have credible DNS.
• There were other open DNS servers, including Google Public DNS, the government’s system would prevent users from visiting malicious websites.
• The roll-out, which will be executed by the National Informatics Centre – the technology arm of the government – will be completed in the next four to six months
• NIC is already using the public DNS within the government network.

More benefits of using DNA

• If you use any public DNS, they access and use all your data. It is not that users will compulsorily need to shift to India public DNS.
  
• A user is free to choose any DNS and with the government’s public DNS, Indian users’ data would be stored within the country.

 

Prelims Practise Question
  
Consider the following statements regarding Domain Name Server(DNS)
1.       A DNS is a like a directory for the Internet which  helps to convert domain names that are easy for people to remember into IP addresses, which are used by computers/machines to communicate.
2.       The main aim of bringing  own public DNS is to ensure availability, particularly for smaller Interest Service Providers (ISPs) who don’t have credible DNS.
Find the correct options from the option given below

a.       1 only
b.       2 only
c.        Both
d.       None
 
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