Connect to Current -Daily Current Capsules 07th March 2019

Security Challenges
Union Home Minister launches Smart Fencing on Indo-Bangladesh border
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the smart fencing technology) + Mains ( GS III security challenges and their management in border areas

What's the NEWS

• Two pilot projects covering about 71 Kms on Indo-Pakistan Border (10 Kms) and Indo-Bangladesh Border (61 Kms) of Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) have been completed.

• The Stage has been set now for taking up Stage-II and Stage-III covering about 1955 Kms of the border which cannot be physically fenced.

Know! about BOLD -QIT project under CIBMS

• The CIBMS project will vastly improve the capability of BSF in detecting and controlling the cross border crimes like illegal infiltration, smuggling of contraband goods, human trafficking and cross border terrorism etc.

• The project BOLD-QIT (Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique) under Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System (CIBMS) on Indo- Bangladesh border in Dhubri district of Assam.

• Earlier in the month of September, 2018, two pilot projects of "smart" border fencing built under the CIBMS programme in Jammu were operationalised.
• At Dhubri, where BOLD-QIT project has been implemented along riverine border, it was not feasible to construct border fencing.

• The 61 kms of border area in Dhubri where River Brahmaputra enters into Bangladesh consists of vast char lands and innumerable river channels thus making border guarding in this area a challenging task especially during rainy season.

• To address these problems Ministry of Home Affairs has decided to use technological solutions to enhance capabilities of manpower of Border Security Force (BSF) deployed on the ground.

Features of CIBMS
• CIBMS involves deployment of a range of state-of-the-art surveillance technologies - thermal imagers, infra-red and laser-based intruder alarms, aerostats for aerial surveillance, unattended ground sensors that can help detect intrusion bids, radars, sonar systems to secure riverine borders, fibre-optic sensors and a command and control system that shall receive data from all surveillance devices in real time.

• Implementation of CIBMS projects on Indo - Pakistan and Indo - Bangladesh border will enhance the capabilities of Border security Force (BSF).

Economic Development
Textiles Minister inaugurates Refurbished Handloom Haat
Relevance IN - Prelims( about the new projects) + Mains ( GS II government policies and intervention for the development of various sectors)

What's the NEWS
• Union Textiles Minister, Smriti Zubin Irani, inaugurated the renovated Handloom Haat in New Delhi

• She also launched three projects of NIFT - VisionNXT - Trend Forecasting Initiative, Indian Textiles and Craft Repository and Design Innovation and Incubation.

Know! more about these new projects
• The Haat at Janpath in New Delhi has been set up by Ministry of Textiles to provide marketing opportunities to authentic handloom products from various States, PSUs and cooperative societies.

• Its main objective is to provide infrastructure support to handloom agencies to augment their sales of handloom products and to showcase the exquisite variety of handloom products produced all over the country.

Know! about NIFT - VisionNXT - Trend Forecasting Initiative, Indian Textiles and Craft Repository and Design Innovation and Incubation.

• The NIFT will accomplish their job through artificial intelligence.

• The virtual museum will not only help industry and research scholars but also carry forward the knowledge to the next generation.

• Project related to trend innovation lab ‘VisionNxt' initiative being set up by NIFT in the building will create an indigenous fashion forecasting service that endeavours to design seasonal directions for our country.

• The project of Indian Textiles and Craft Repository Initiative of NIFT is supported by the DC Handlooms and the DC Handicrafts, Ministry of Textiles.
• The body of textile and craft knowledge generated through the Craft Cluster Initiative will be channelled into a national knowledge portal titled Indian Textile & Craft Repository.

Government Schemes
Independent Verification of Swachh Bharat Grameen confirms over 96% usage of toilets
Relevance IN - Prelims - ( about the survey outcomes and about SBM) + Mains ( GS II government policies and interventions for the development of various sectors)

What's the NEWS
• The National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2018-19, conducted by an Independent Verification Agency (IVA) under the World Bank support project to the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G), has found that 96.5% of the households in rural India who have access to a toilet use it.

• The NARSS also re-confirmed the Open Defecation Free (ODF) status of 90.7% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF by various districts/States.
Know! more about the survey outcomes
• The survey was conducted between November 2018 and February 2019 and covered 92040 households in 6136 villages across States and UTs of India.

The key findings of NARSS 2018-19 are as follows:
• 93.1% of households were found to have access to toilets during the survey period (the corresponding figure as per the SBMG MIS in November 2018 was 96%)
• 96.5% of the people who had access to toilets used them
• 90.7% of villages which were previously declared and verified as ODF were confirmed to be ODF. The remaining villages also had sanitation coverage of about 93%
• 95.4% of the villages surveyed found to have minimal litter and minimal stagnant water

Know! more about the survey methodology
• The IVA presented their findings to the Expert Working Group (EWG) constituted for oversight of NARSS, comprising representatives from organizations including the World Bank, UNICEF, Water Aid, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, India Sanitation Coalition, NITI Aayog, and Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation.

• The survey used the PPS (Probability Proportion to Size) sampling methodology, which yields results within a confidence interval of 95%.

• Data was collected using the Computer Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) platform. The survey also covered schools, anganwadis and public/community toilets in these villages.

Know! about Swatch Bharat Mission
• Since its launch in October 2014, the SBM, the world's largest sanitation program, has changed the behaviour of hundreds of millions of people with respect to toilet access and usage.

• 500 million people have stopped defecating in the open since the SBM began, down from 550 million at the beginning of the programme to less than 50 million today.
• Over 9 crore toilets have been built across rural India under the Mission. Over 5.5 lakh villages and 615 districts have been declared ODF, along with 30 ODF States and Union Territories.


Factoids
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports recognises Kudo International Federation India as National Sport Federation
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the benefits of getting the recognition)

What's the NEWS
• Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has granted provisional recognition to Kudo International Federation India(KIFI) as National Sport Federation with immediate effect.

• The grant of recognition is subject to compliance of the provisions of National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 as modified from time to time, by the federation including displaying information on their website as per the instructions issued by the Ministry.
• The recognition means granting a major role to KIFI Association for promotion and Development of Kudo sport in India.

• The Kudo sport is placed in the ‘Others' category.

Health Services
7th March 2019 to be celebrated as ‘JanaushadhiDiwas' across India
Relevance IN - Prelims( about PMBJP) + Mains ( GS II issues related to development and management of social sector/services relating to health + welfare schemes for vulnerable sections

What's the NEWS
• In the direction of making quality healthcare affordable for all, the Government has taken important steps to make affordable and quality generic medicines popular among the people through Pradhan MantriBhartiyaJanaushadhiPariyojana (PMBJP)

• For providing further impetus & creating awareness about use of generic medicines, it has been decided to celebrate 7th March 2019 as ‘JanaushadhiDiwas' across India.

• PMBJP Kendras to increase the awareness about the scheme. These programmes would witness participation of doctors, health experts, NGOs and beneficiaries, which would help in spreading awareness about the scheme to common masses.

Know! more about PMJAY
• In September 2015, the ‘Jan Aushadhi Scheme' was revamped as ‘Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Yojana' (PMJAY) and in november 2016, to give further impetus to the scheme, it was again renamed as "Pradhan MantriBhartiyaJ anaushadhi Pariyojana" (PMBJP) under the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers with an objective of making available quality generic medicines at affordable prices to all.

• This has been implementing by the Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI), under the administrative control of Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.

Salient features of the scheme:
• Ensure access to quality medicines
• Extend coverage of quality generic medicines so as to reduce the out of pocket expenditure on medicines and thereby redefine the unit cost of treatment per person

• Create awareness about generic medicines through education and publicity so that quality is not synonymous with only high price

• A public program involving Government, PSUs, Private Sector, NGO, Societies, Co-operative Bodies and other Institutions

• Create demand for generic medicines by improving access to better healthcare through low treatment cost and easy availability wherever needed in all therapeutic categories.

Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Amendment in Hazardous Waste (Management& Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about the amendments) + Mains ( GS III environment conservation)

What's the NEWS
• In order to strengthen the implementation of environmentally sound management of hazardous waste in the country, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has amended the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016

Some of the salient features of the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management& Transboundary Movement) Amendment Rules, 2019 are as follows:
1. Solid plastic waste has been prohibited from import into the country including in Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and by Export Oriented Units (EOU).

2. Exporters of silk waste have now been given exemption from requiring permission from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

3. Electrical and electronic assemblies and components manufactured in and exported from India, if found defective can now be imported back into the country, within a year of export, without obtaining permission from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

4. Industries which do not require consent under Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1974 and Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act 1981, are now exempted from requiring authorization also under the Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management & Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2016, provided that hazardous and other wastes generated by such industries are handed over to the authorized actual users, waste collectors or disposal facilities.

Women and Child Development
Smt. Maneka Gandhi felicitates 'Web Wonder Women'
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about various initiatives by the ministry)

What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development hosted a felicitation event for Web Wonder Women, a campaign organised to celebrate the exceptional achievements of women, who have been driving social reforms via social media.

Know! more about the event
• Organised in collaboration with Twitter India and Breakthrough India, the event aimed to recognise the fortitude of Indian women stalwarts from across the globe who have used the power of social media to run positive campaigns to steer a change in society.

• #WebWonderWomen was a campaign to recognise, honour and encourage such voices that have in their own capacity driven a positive impact on social media platforms

• The WCD Minister, along with a panel of 10 judges, finalised the names of 30 women who have impacted and influenced society through social media.

Know! some more campaigns of the ministry
• On 8th March, the Ministry honours women who have contributed to society but have remained unsung with the Nari Shakti Puruskar, which is conferred by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan.

• Along with these Puruskars, the Ministry started a new system of recognising women who have broken the glass ceiling and ventured into unusual fields.

• In 2018, the Ministry hosted 'First Ladies', a first-of-its-kind Government initiative to felicitate exceptional women who were the first to set a milestone in their respective fields.
• In 2015, the Ministry had collaborated with Facebook to recognise '100 Women Achievers' who have excelled in diverse sectors of public work.

• Web Wonder Women' is the third leg of the ‘Women Achievers' campaign of the Ministry.

Prelims Practise Question

Consider the following statements

1. The Ministry of textiles Minister in association with the Ministry of culture and NITI Aayog launched three projects of NIFT - VisionNXT - Trend Forecasting Initiative, Indian Textiles and Craft Repository and Design Innovation and Incubation.

2. First ladies, 100 women achiever and Web Wonder Women are some of the campaigns of the Ministry of Health and Family welfare

3. The Pradhan MantriBhartiyaJ anaushadhi Pariyojana" (PMBJP) has been implementing by the Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI), under the administrative control of Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.

Find the correct statement from the options given below
a. 1 and 3
b. 2 and 3
c. 1 only
d. 3 only

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