Government Schemes
Swacch Bharat Mission (Grameen)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about (SBM-G) Phase 2 + about National Scheme Sanction Committee) + Mains ( GS II government policies and interventions)
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Jal Shakti under Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G) Phase 2 is poised to support over two lakh villages achieve solid and liquid waste management (SLWM) arrangements through an investment of over Rs. 40,700 crores in the present FY 2021-22.
• The National Scheme Sanctioning Committee (NSSC) of SBM-G under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Jal Shakti approved the Annual Implementation Plan (AIP) of States and UTs.

Know! about SBD(G)

• SBM(G) Phase 2 aims at achieving comprehensive cleanliness in villages also called ODF Plus status by focusing on ODF sustainability and ensuring SLWM arrangements in villages.
• Implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen Phase 2 in 2021-2022 will see construction of over 50 lakh Individual Household toilets (IHHLs), one Lakh Community toilets, Plastic Waste Management Units in over 2400 Blocks of India,
• Gobardhan projects in 386 Districts, Faecal sludge management arrangements in over 250 Districts apart from the targeted support for over 2 lakh villages in implementation of SLWM interventions.
• Earlier Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) supported States and UTs to undertake a participatory planning exercise along with Districts and Rural Local Bodies to step up implementation of ODF plus elements and achieve results at scale.
• Each State/UT have developed their Annual Implementation plans that set out the implementation targets and strategy that would be adopted in the State/UT.
• Implementation of Swachh Bharat Mission is led by Rural Local Bodies and the mission has the reputation of being a unique janandolan on Swachhata in the country.

National Scheme Sanction Committee

• The National Scheme Sanction Committee comprises representatives of Ministry of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, representative from State Governments apart sector experts.
• The NSSC reviewed the plans of all States and UTs and provided them guidance to intensify implementation as sanitation and hygiene are of paramount importance in the pandemic times.
• NSSC emphasized on the effective utilization of Fifteenth Finance tied funds earmarked for sanitation.

Social Issues
Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY-III)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about (PMGKAY-III) + Mains ( GS II Welfare scheme for the vulnerable section of population)
What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister conveyed the decision of extension of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY-III) till the Deepawali.
• This means that till November 2021, more than 80 crore people will continue to get decided amount of free food grain every month.
• Till 07.06.2021, Food Corporation of India has supplied 69 LMT free food grains to all 36 States/ UTs.

Know! more about the scheme

• FCI is transporting food grains all across the country to ensure smooth supply to all States/ UT Governments. During May 2021, 1433 food grain rakes have been loaded by FCI at an average 46 rakes per day.
• The Government of India will bear the entire cost on account of such distribution including food subsidy, intra-state transportation and dealer's margin/ additional dealers margin, without any sharing by States/ UTs.
• The Government of India has sensitized all the States/ UT Governments to complete the distribution of free food grains under PMGKAY in time bound manner.
• Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana is facilitating supply of free food grains to the beneficiaries amidst ongoing COVID pandemic and thus providing food security to the beneficiaries.
• The Government of India announced Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) to ameliorate the hardship faced by the poor due to economic disruption caused by Corona virus.
• Under the scheme, free food grains @ 5 kg per person per month is being distributed to beneficiaries covered under NFSA.

Defence
India-Sweden defence industry cooperation

Relevance IN - Prelims (about India-Sweden Defence Industry Cooperation + about SIDM
What's the NEWS

• A webinar on India-Sweden Defence Industry Cooperation, with the theme ‘Capitalizing Opportunities for Growth and Security', was organised on June 08, 2021.
• It was organised under the aegis of Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence through Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and Swedish Security and Defence Industry (SOFF).

Know! about India-Sweden Defence Industry Cooperation

• On the occasion, an MoU was signed between SIDM and SOFF to promote bilateral defence industrial relations wherein a dedicated Joint Working Group will be formed to take forward mutual objectives.
• The Defence minister released the first edition of the 'SIDM Members Directory 2020-21' - A 360º Overview of the Indian Defence and Aerospace Sector'.
• The Directory captures the capabilities of 437 companies in the Defence and Aerospace sector, facilitates ease of access to information on the Indian Industry and serves as a one-stop reference for the global defence community.
• The Directory also contains the latest 108 item 2nd Positive Indigenisation List.

Know! policy and procedural reforms undertaken by the Government

• The Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 encourages domestic manufacturing and has provided a strong foundation for India to emerge as the defence manufacturing hub.
• Policy decisions such as FDI liberalisation and improved ease of doing businesses are attracting top defence companies of the world and have Joint Ventures establishments in India.
• Ease of FDI regulations and introduction of Buy (Global - Manufacture in India) in Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) 2020 invite foreign OEMs to participate in the opportunities offered by the Indian Defence industry.
• Foreign OEMs can set up manufacturing facilities individually or partner with Indian companies through a joint venture or technology agreement to capitalise on the ‘Make in India' opportunity
• The Defence Minister invited Swedish firms to invest in Defence Corridors in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, saying that they can benefit from the unique incentives being offered by the state governments and the availability of a highly-skilled workforce in India.
• India has a vast Defence Industrial Base with 41 Ordnance factories, nine Defence Public Sector Undertakings and expanding private sector Industries supported by an ecosystem of over 12,000 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, adding that Indian Defence Industries possess expertise on a wide range of high-tech defence systems for air, land, sea and space applications.

Know! about SIDM

• The Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) is a not-for-profit association formed to be the apex body of the Indian defence industry.
• SIDM plays a proactive role as an advocate, catalyst, and facilitator for the growth and capability building of the defence industry in India.

Environment
Environment Minister launches awareness campaign on Single Use plastics.

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about awareness generation campaign + Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016) + Mains ( GS III Environment conservation - steps taken by the government)
What's the NEWS

• Considering the adverse impacts of littered single use plastic items on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems the government gave a clarion call to phase out single use plastics by 2022, and the government has taken effective measures to manage plastic waste
• The Environment minister launched a two-month awareness generation campaign on plastic waste management and elimination of identified single use plastic items.

Know! more about the awareness generation campaign

• GIZ, UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) along with Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India, are organizing the two-month long awareness campaign which will comprise of four on-line regional events and a social media campaign to spread the message of mitigation plastic pollution to wider audience.
• The regional events will include interactive sessions on various themes related single use plastics and plastic waste management and cover wide range of stakeholders from local bodies, pollution control boards, industry, civil society organizations and citizens.
• To spur innovation and entrepreneurship in area of tackling plastic waste pollution and elimination of single use plastic, Shri Javadekar announced the "India Plastic Challenge - Hackathon 2021".
• The "India Plastic Challenge - Hackathon 2021" is a unique competition calling upon start-ups /entrepreneurs and students of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to develop innovative solutions to mitigate plastic pollution and develop alternatives to single use plastics.

Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016

• Government of India has already banned import of plastic waste in the country.
• The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change for the first time brought out Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, for handling plastic waste in an environmentally sound manner.
• Under the rules plastic carry bags below 50 microns have been banned. Many states/UTs have also banned identified single use plastic items. Further, the Ministry has issued a draft notification in March 2021 for amending the Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, with respect to prohibiting identified 12 single use plastic items such as disposable plastic cutlery etc.

Education
Government releases guidelines for the development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities -highlights + about PM e-VIDYA ) + Mains ( GS II Education + Social Justice)
What's the NEWS

• Union Education Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank' approved the release of the guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities
• A comprehensive initiative, PM e-VIDYA was launched on 17th May 2020, with an aim to unify all efforts related to digital/online/on-air education.
• The programme interalia envisages development of special e-content for the Divyang (Children with Disabilities-CwDs).
• In pursuance of this vision, the Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education had constituted a Committee of experts, for recommending guidelines for developing e-content for these children.

Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities

• For the first time, an attempt was made to prepare guidelines for CwD also referred to as Children with Special Needs (CWSN) children so that the goal of inclusive education is fulfilled.

Know! the committee report highlights

• The Committee submitted a report titled "Guidelines for the Development of e-Content for Children with Disabilities"comprising of eleven Sections and two Appendices.
• The Committee has also recommended that in a phased manner textbooks may be adapted into Accessible Digital Textbooks (ADTs).
• The content of ADTs should be provided in multiple formats (text, audio, video, sign language etc) with turn-on and turn-off features.
• Further ADTs should provide flexibility to CwDs to respond to its content/exercises in multiple ways.
• The detailed guidelines for developing ADTs along with existing international and national experience, in the development of prototypes including the recent NCERT's experience: Barkha:A Reading Series for All (in print and digital forms), Accessible Textbooks for All and UNICEF's "Accessible Digital Textbooks using Universal Design for Learning ( for Learners with and without Disabilities ) have been presented in Section 5 of the report.

The salient highlights of the e- content guidelines in the report are:

• e-Content for CwDs should be developed based on the four principles namely: perceivable, operable, understandable and robust.
• e-Content including text, tables, diagrams, visuals, audios, videos etc. should comply with accessibility standards: national standards (GIGW 2.0) and international standards (WCAG 2.1, E-Pub, DAISY etc).
• Distribution platforms on which content is uploaded (e.g. DIKSHA) and Reading platforms/devices on which content is accessed and interacted (e.g. e-pathshala) must comply with technical standards

Know! about PM eVidya

• It is a unique and innovative venture by the Ministry of Education, Government of India to facilitate multi-mode access to digital/online teaching-learning contents of various types among students and teachers.
• The uniqueness of the PM e-Vidya lies with its comprehensive accessibility for all as it caters the education content to all with its multi-mode set-up of remote learning platforms including internet, radio, community radio, podcast, and TV.
• One of the major initiatives of PM eVidya is 12 eVidya TV Channels based on the line of One Class-One Channel for class 1 to 12 to air educational content related to the respective classes.
• 12 eVidya DTH channels are especially useful for the learners of those remote areas where stable internet is not available.
• These channels telecast curriculum based educational contents developed by NCERT and other agencies such as CBSE, KVS, NIOS, Rotary, etc.
• The video contents have been developed in both Hindi and English medium.
• These video contents are superimposed with QR codes, which, if scanned using DIKSHA mobile app will take the users to the same content on DIKSHA portal.

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