PIB Analysis : 10th and 11th February

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Web Portal for star rating of mines
2. AJEYA WARRIOR-2020
3. National Literacy Mission
4. PRIMARY WATER QUALITY CRITERIA FOR BATHING WATER
5. Kisan Credit Card Scheme
6. State of the World’s Children Report 2019 of UNICEF
7. Central Bureau of Health Intelligence
8. Facts for Prelims

1 . Web Portal for Star Rating of Mines

Context : In order to promote green, safe and sustainable mining practices using technology as a tool, Ministry of Coal (MoC) has launched a web portal for star rating of coal mines.

About the Web Portal

• Portal enables all operational coal mines across India for self-rating, their subsequent validation by Coal Controller’s Organization (CCO), further evaluation and finally award of star rating. 
• Based on the star ratings obtained through a well-defined mechanism on this web portal, the highest scoring mines in the country will be awarded in a public ceremony.
• Besides, all the mines will be given an official certificate by the CCO mentioning their star rating and the particular reporting year.
• The mines that score from 91 to 100% will get 5 star, 81 to 90% 4 star, 71 to 80% 3 star, 61 to 70% 2 star, 41 to 60% 1 star and mines that score from 0 to 40% will get No star on the portal as per laid down procedures of the Star Rating Policy for Coal Mines in India. 

Background

• Ministry of Coal last year had formulated a Star Rating Policy for Coal Mines in India. This policy envisages 50 evaluation parameters in Opencast Mines and 47 in Underground Mines as star rating criteria under seven broad modules namely – Mining Operations Related Parameters, Environment related parameters, Adoption of Technologies: Best Mining Practices, Economic performance, Rehabilitation & Resettlement related parameters, Worker related Compliance and Safety and security related parameters. 

2 . AJEYA WARRIOR-2020

About Ajeya Warrior 2020

• Fifth edition of Joint Military Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR-2020 between India and United Kingdom will be conducted at Salisbury Plains, United Kingdom
• The exercise will comprise of 120 soldiers each from Indian and United Kingdom Army who would be sharing their experiences gained during conduct of various counter insurgency and counter terrorist operations in the past.
• The aim of this exercise is to conduct company level joint training with emphasis on counter terrorists operation in Urban and Semi Urban areas.
• Training on modern weapon systems, equipment and simulator training have also been planned.
• The exercise is conducted alternatively in United Kingdom and India.
• Exercise AJEYA WARRIOR will promote defence cooperation and enhance interoperability while sharing experiences between both the armies.

3 . National Literacy Mission

Background

• Adult Education is a Concurrent Subject with both Central and State Governments being required to contribute to its promotion and strengthening.
• At the national level, National Literacy Mission Authority (NLMA), an autonomous wing of MHRD is the nodal agency for overall planning and management and funding of Adult Education Programmes and institutions. Its inter – ministerial General Council and Executive Committee are the two policy and executive bodies.

Centrally Sponsored Schemes

• Presently, the provision of adult education is through the Saakshar Bharat Programme (SBP) which is a centrally sponsored scheme.
• The National Literacy Mission Authority (NLMA), is the Nodal Agency at the National level. The Joint Secretary (Adult Education) is the ex – officio Director General of NLMA.
• It was set up in 1988 with the approval of the Cabinet as an independent and autonomous wing of the Ministry of HRD (the then Department of Education). The Cabinet vested NLMA with full executive and financial powers in the sphere of work.

National Literacy Mission Authority is mandated with

• Policy and planning;
• Developmental and promotional activities;
• Operational functions including assistance to voluntary agencies and other NGOs,
• Technology demonstration
• Leadership training
• Resource development including media and materials
• Research and development
• Monitoring and evaluation etc.

The Council of NLMA

• Is the apex body of NLMA, headed by Minister of Human Resource Development and consists of, among others, Ministers of Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Minority Affairs, Information and Broadcasting, Health and Family Welfare, Youth Affairs and Sports, Social Justice and Empowerment, Women and Child Development, senior level political leaders of the main political parties, three Members of Parliament, Education Ministers of six States etc.

Executive Committee

• The Executive Committee is responsible to carry out all the functions of the Authority in accordance with the policy and guidelines laid down by the Council.
• It strives for proper implementation of policies and incorporation of latest developments in the field of adult education.

Major campaigns under the National Literacy Mission:

• TOTAL LITERACY CAMPAIGNS (TLC) : This model is the dominant strategy for the eradication of adult illiteracy in India. TLC campaigns are area-specific, time-bound, volunteer-based, cost-effective and outcome-oriented. The campaigns are implemented through district-level literacy committees which are registered under the Societies Registration Act as independent and autonomous bodies to provide a unified umbrella under which a number of individuals and organisations work together.
• POST LITERACY PROGRAMME (PLP) : Post-literacy programmes attempt to give interested learners an opportunity to harness and develop their learning potentials after completion of a course in basic literacy. Post literacy programmes are open to neo-literates in the age group of 9-35 who have completed the basic literacy course under the total literacy campaigns, dropouts from primary schools and pass outs from Non formal Education (NFE) programmes.
• CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAMME (CEP) : After the impingement of literacy and adult education programmes another challenge that came before the National Literacy Mission was to create a Continuing Education System and maintain a channelled continuous and life-long learning process. Thus, the scheme of Continuing Education was taken up. The Continuing Education Scheme is multi-faceted and is postulated on the principles of treating basic literacy, post literacy and later continuing education. Above all the scheme aims at addressing the socio-economic situations of the community to provide infrastructure for larger development initiatives.

4 . Primary water quality criteria for bathing water

5 . Kisan Credit Card Scheme

Context : To enable universal access to Concessional Institutional credit, Government of India has initiated a drive in Mission Mode for saturating all PM-KISAN beneficiaries with Kisan Credit Card (KCC). This will help all such farmers to get short term loan for crop & animal/fish rearing at a maximum interest of 4% on timely repayment.

Objective

The scheme aims at providing adequate and timely cred it for the comprehensive credit requirements of farmers under single window for their cultivation and other needs as indicated below:

• To meet the short term credit requirements for cultivation of crops
• Post harvest expenses
• Produce Marketing loan
• Consumption requirements of farmer household
• Working capital for maintenance of farm assets, activities allied to agriculture, like dairy animals, inland fishery and also working capital required for floriculture, horticulture etc.
• Investment credit requirement for agriculture and allied activities like pump sets, sprayers, dairy animals, floriculture, horticulture etc

Eligibility

• All farmers-individuals/Joint borrowers who are owner cultivators.
• Tenant farmers, Oral lessees and Share Croppers etc.
• SHGs or Joint Liability Groups of farmers including tenant farmers, share croppers etc.

Advantages of the KCC Scheme to the farmers

• Simplifies disbursement procedures
• Removes rigidity regarding cash and kind
• No need to apply for a loan for every crop
• Assured availability of credit at any time enabling reduced interest burden for the farmer.
• Helps buy seeds, fertilizers at farmer’s convenience and choice
• Helps buy on cash-avail discount from dealers
• Credit facility for 3 years – no need for seasonal appraisal
• Maximum credit limit based on agriculture income
• Any number of withdrawals subject to credit limit
• Repayment only after harvest
• Rate of interest as applicable to agriculture advance
• Security, margin and documentation norms as applicable to agricultural advance
• Access to adequate and timely credit to farmers
• Full year’s credit requirement of the borrower taken care of. Minimum paper work and simplification of documentation for withdraw  of funds from the bank.
• Flexibility to draw cash and buy inputs.
• Assured availability of credit at any time enabling reduced interest burden for the farmer. Flexibility of drawals from a branch other than the issuing branch at the discretion of the bank.

Salient features Scheme

• Eligible farmers to be provided with a Kisan Credit Card and a pass book or card-cum-pass book.
• Revolving cash credit facility involving any number of drawals and repayments within the limit.
• Limit to be fixed on the basis of operational land holding, cropping pattern and scale of finance.
• Entire production credit needs for full year plus ancillary activities related to crop production to be considered while fixing limit.
• Sub-limits to cover short term, medium term as well as term credit are fixed at the discretion of banks.
• Card valid for 5 years subject to annual review. As incentive for good performance, credit limits could be enhanced to take care of increase in costs, change in cropping pattern, etc.
• Conversion/reschedulement of loans also permissible in case of damage to crops due to natural calamities.
• Security, margin, rate of interest, etc. as per RBI norms.
• Operations may be through issuing branch (and also PACS in the case of Cooperative Banks) through other designated branches at the discretion of bank.
• Withdrawals through slips/cheques accompanied by card and passbook.
• Crop loans disbursed under KCC Scheme for notified crops are covered under Crop Insurance Scheme, to protect the interest of the farmer against loss of crop yield caused by natural calamities, pest attacks etc

6 . “State of the World’s Children Report 2019”of UNICEF

Details of the Report

• As per UNICEF’s State of the World’s Children Report 2019, the Under 5 Mortality Rate in India is 37 per 1,000 live births against Global average of 39 per 1,000 live births in 2018, which translates to more than 8 lakhs under 5 deaths in India.
• As per the UNICEF 2019 report, Globalization, urbanization, inequities, humanitarian crises and climate shocks are driving unprecedented negative changes in the nutrition situation of children around the world.

Major Causes

• As per the Sample Registration System (SRS) 2010-13 report of Registrar General of India, major causes of child mortality in India are: Prematurity & low birth weight (29.8%), Pneumonia (17.1%), Diarrheal diseases (8.6%), Other non-communicable diseases (8.3%), Birth asphyxia & birth trauma (8.2%), Injuries (4.6%), Congenital anomalies (4.4%), Ill-defined or cause unknown (4.4%), Acute bacterial sepsis and severe infections (3.6%), Fever of unknown origin (2.5%), All Other Remaining Causes (8.4%).

Government Interventions

• Government of India has launched POSHAN (Prime Minister Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment) Abhiyaan, to address malnutrition challenges in India by engaging all the important stakeholders in a convergent approach. The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan is to prevent and reduce stunting, underweight and low birth weight by 2% per annum and the reduction of anemia by 3% per annum.
• The Government of India has also launched several schemes under the aegis of Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) to tackle malnutrition in the country including Anganwadi Services, Scheme for Adolescent Girls (SAG) and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojna (PMMVY) to improve the nutritional and health status of children in the age-group 0-6 years. The Anganwadi Services scheme provides a package of six services i.e. Supplementary Nutrition, Pre School Non-formal Education, Nutrition and Health Education, Immunization, Health checkups and referral services.

7 . Central Bureau of Health Intelligence

About Central Bureau of Health Intelligence

• Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) is the National Nodal agency for Health Intelligence in the Directorate General of Health Services (Dte.GHS), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, and Government of India. CBHI also functions as Collaborating Centre for World Health Organization, Family of International Classification (WHO FIC) in India & South East Asia Region (SEAR) countries. 
• CBHI is committed to build an integrated health informatics platform which can provide reliable, accurate, and relevant national health information and enable evidence based policy formulation and decision making.
• Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI), established in 1961 by the Act of Parliament on the recommendation of Mudaliar committee,
• Central Bureau of Health Intelligence compiles a National Health Profile based on the information received from various Ministries/Departments.  

8 . Facts for Prelims

Important Stats regarding Population Growth

The Government conducts periodic surveys viz. the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and the Sample Registration System (SRS) to study the impact of various awareness programmes being conducted. The key findings of the surveys are as follows:

• The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) has declined from 2.9 in 2005 to 2.2 in 2017 (SRS).
• The Wanted Fertility Rate has declined from 1.9 in NFHS III to 1.8 in NFHS IV.
• The Crude Birth Rate (CBR) has declined from 23.8 to 20.2 from 2005 to 2017 (SRS).
• The Teenage Birth Rate has halved from 16% (NFHS III)  to 8% (NFHS IV).
• 99.5 percent currently married men and women have knowledge about any modern method of contraception (NFHS IV). 

Migratory species in India

• India is home to several migratory species of wildlife including snow leopard, Amur falcons, bar headed Geese, black necked cranes, marine turtles, dugongs, humpbacked whales, etc. and has signed non legally binding MOU with CMS on the conservation and management of Siberian Cranes (1998), Marine Turtles (2007), Dugongs (2008) and Raptors (2016).