Relevance IN - Prelims (about Arogya manthan + ayushman bharat ) + Mains (GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

• Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, inaugurated the ‘Arogya Manthan', a 2-day national workshop organised by National Health Authority (NHA) to mark the first year anniversary of Ayushman Bharat PMJAY, which was launched on 23rd September last year at Ranchi by the Hon. Prime Minister.

Know! about PMJAY

• Ayushman Bharat Yojana or Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY) or National Health Protection Scheme is a centrally sponsored scheme launched in 2018, under the Ayushman Bharat Mission of MoHFW in India.
• The scheme aims at making interventions in primary, secondary and tertiary care systems, covering both preventive and promotive health, to address healthcare holistically.
• It is an umbrella of two major health initiatives namely, Health and Wellness centres and National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS).

Defence
BRAHMOS Supersonic Cruise Missile, with major indigenous systems, successfully test-fired

Relevance IN - Prelims (about BrahMos Missile)
What's the NEWS

• BRAHMOS supersonic cruise missile featuring Indian propulsion system, airframe, power supply and other major indigenous components, was successfully test fired from ITR, Chandipur in Odisha.
• The missile was successfully test-fired for its full range of 290-km during the launch jointly conducted by DRDO and BrahMos Aerospace.
• With this successful mission, the indigenous content in the formidable weapon has reached a high value, thus bolstering India's defence indigenisation and the flagship ‘Make in India' programme.
• Jointly developed by India and Russia, the versatile BRAHMOS has been operationalised in the Indian Armed Forces with all the three services.

BRAHMOS Supersonic Cruise Missile

• BRAHMOS is a two-stage missile with a solid propellant booster engine as its first stage which brings it to supersonic speed and then gets separated.
• The liquid ramjet or the second stage then takes the missile closer to 3 Mach speed in cruise phase.
• Stealth technology and guidance system with advanced embedded software provides the missile with special features.
• The missile has flight range of up to 290-km with supersonic speed all through the flight, leading to shorter flight time, consequently ensuring lower dispersion of targets, quicker engagement time and non-interception by any known weapon system in the world.
• It operates on ‘Fire and Forget Principle', adopting varieties of flights on its way to the target.

LCA (Navy) crosses path breaking milestone
Indian Navy LCA Jet Completes Launch and Recovery Cycle in a Single Sortie

Relevance IN - Prelims (LCA Naval aircraft)+ Mains (GS III Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
What's the NEWS

• A seminal achievement was accomplished in the quest for technologies related to operation of indigenous fighter aircraft from aircraft carriers.

Know! about the launch and recovery process

• LCA Naval Prototype-2 launched off the ski jump at 1621 hours and then subsequently "trapped" at 1631 hrs on the arresting gear site (both locations situated at Shore Based Test Facility INS Hansa, Goa).
• While both these activities had been achieved individually earlier, this was the first occasion when the complete cycle of launch and recovery necessary for aircraft carrier operations was accomplished in a single sortie.

Short Take-Off but Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) concept

• Being a pioneering technology acquisition and demonstration program for the unique Short Take-Off but Arrested Recovery (STOBAR) concept of aircraft operations, the LCA (Navy) team has had to conceptualise and experiment with complex software modes from a clean slate.
• All this had to be done while tentatively exploring and incrementally expanding the structural capabilities of the aircraft to withstand the brutal requirements of carrier operations.
• The event demonstrate the completion of the basic exploration phase of the programme and transition to refinement and improvement iterations.

Environment Conservation
Week-Long IPCC Meet on Climate Change begins in New Delhi
Relevance IN - Prelims (about IPCC and its assessment report) + Mains (GS III Environment conservation)
What's the NEWS

• India is hosting the Second Lead Author Meeting of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Working Group III Sixth Assessment Report at New Delhi
• More than 200 experts/authors including 12 from India and others from around 65 countries are expected to participate in this week-long meeting at New Delhi.

Know! about AR6

• This report will emphasize what can be done in the near term to mitigate climate change, and how mitigation actions can be enabled through policy, institution-building and finance.
• The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) will examine topics such as the link between consumption and behaviour and greenhouse gas emissions, and the role of innovation and technology.
• The report will assess the connection between short to medium-term actions and their compatibility with the long-term temperature goal in the Paris Agreement.
• It will assess mitigation options in sectors such as energy, agriculture, forestry and land use, buildings, transport and industry.
• The IPCC Panel is due to consider the Working Group III contribution to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report at a plenary session on 12 to 16 July 2021.
• Each of the three IPCC Working Groups will release their contributions to the Sixth Assessment Report in 2021.

Know! about IPCC

• The IPCC is the UN body for assessing the science related to climate change.
• It was established by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) in 1988 to provide political leaders with periodic scientific assessments concerning climate change, its implications and risks, as well as to put forward adaptation and mitigation strategies. It has 195 member states.
• Thousands of people from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC. For the assessment reports, IPCC scientists volunteer their time to assess the thousands of scientific papers published each year to provide a comprehensive summary of what is known about the drivers of climate change, its impacts and future risks, and how adaptation and mitigation can reduce those risks.
• The IPCC has three working groups: Working Group I, dealing with the physical science basis of climate change; Working Group II, dealing with impacts, adaptation and vulnerability; and Working Group III, dealing with the mitigation of climate change. It also has a Task Force on National Greenhouse Gas Inventories that develops methodologies for measuring emissions and removals.

Defence
Indo-Thailand Joint Military Exercise Maitree - 2019
Relevance IN - Prelims (about MAITREE- 2019)
What's the NEWS

• Exercise MAITREE-2019, the joint military training exercise between Indian Army (IA) & Royal Thailand Army (RTA) which commenced on 16 Sep 19, culminated on 29 Sep 2019 at Foreign Training Node, Umroi (Meghalaya).
• During the last 14 days, contingents of both armies shared their expertise and experiences in counter terrorism operations and enhanced interoperability. The scope of the exercise encompassed joint training in various facets of counter terrorism operations in urban and jungle environments.
• The training culminated with a 48 hours outdoor exercise in which troops of both contingents carried out a cordon and search operation in a mock village.

Governance
Electoral Bond Scheme
Relevance IN - Prelims (about electoral bond) + Mains (GS II Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures

What's the NEWS

• Government of India has notified the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 vide Gazette Notification No. 20 dated January 02, 2018.
• As per provisions of the Scheme, Electoral Bonds may be purchased by a person who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India.

Know! all about Electoral bonds

• A person being an individual can buy Electoral Bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals. Only the Political Parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951) and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last General Election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds.
• The Electoral Bonds shall be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorized Bank.
• State Bank of India (SBI), in the XII Phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash Electoral Bonds through its 29 Authorized Branches ( as per list enclosed)w.e.f. 01.10.2019 to 10.10.2019.
• It may be noted that Electoral Bonds shall be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.
• The Electoral Bond deposited by an eligible Political Party in its account shall be credited on the same day.

Arguments against electoral bond

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