PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE
Topics Covered
- Pravasi Teerth Darshan Yojana
- Bharat Parv
- Aadi Mahotsav
- Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar
- GSTAT
- Standby Swap
- MoUs
- Facts for Prelims
1 . Pravasi Teerth Darshan
About Pravasi Teerth Darshan
- Under the scheme, a group of Indian diaspora will be taken on a government-sponsored tour of religious places in India twice a year.
- Under the eligibility criteria, all people of Indian-origin, aged between 45 and 65 can apply and a group will be selected out of them.
- The first preference will be given to people from ‘Girmitiya countries’ such as Mauritius, Fiji, Suriname, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica.
- Girmityas or Jahajis are descendants of indentured Indian labourers brought to Fiji, Mauritius, South Africa, East Africa, the Malay Peninsula, Caribbean and South America (Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana and Suriname) to work on sugarcane plantations for the prosperity of the European settlers and save the Fijians from having to work on these plantations and thus to preserve their culture.
- “Agreement” is the term that has been coined into “Girmit”, referring to the “Agreement” of the British Government with the Indian labourers as to the length of stay in Fiji and the Caribbean, and when they would be allowed to go back to India.
2 . Bharat Parv
Five day long ‘Bharat Parv’ at Red Fort, New Delhi to showcase the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat
About Bharat Parv event
- The Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with other central Ministries is organizing the 4th edition of ‘Bharat Parv’ event showcasing the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat at Red For
- The prime objective of organizing the event is to generate a patriotic mood, promote the rich cultural diversity of the country and to ensure wider participation of the general public
3 . Aadi Mahotsav
Tribes India Aadi Mahotsav’s Soar to New Heights 40,000 Tribal Artisans Benefitted
What is Aadi Mahotsav
- It is National Tribal Festival organized by Ministry of Tribal Affairs in association with TRIFED and Ministry of Culture to celebrate and cherish the spirit of tribal culture, craft, cuisine and commerce
- Aadi Mahotsav is an effort to scale up the livelihood and income generating opportunity for tribals by giving them the opportunity to interact and sell their goods directly to the customers.
- Ministry of Tribal affairs and TRIFED through Aadi Mahotsav’s provides them market access across the country.
- Aadi Mahotsav’s this year have provided livelihoods and additional income to around 14,000 Tribal families and around 40,000 Tribal Artisans. Transactions of more than Rs.18 crores have been registered during the Mahotsavs this year. During the month of the December, 2018, 2 Aadi Mahotsav were organized at Bhopal and Ranthambore wherein a sale of 69.07 Lakhs was generated.
4 . Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar
Government institutes Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar
About the Award
- Government has instituted an annual award titled Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar.
- The award is to be announced every year on 23rd January on the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.
- The National award is instituted for organisations and Individuals who work silently but effectively to alleviate suffering of the affected population during disasters. Award is given to recognise the efforts of such organisations and individuals. \
- All Indian Citizens and organizations, who have excelled in areas of Disaster Management; like Prevention, Mitigation, Preparedness, Rescue, Response, Relief, Rehabilitation, Research/ Innovations or Early Warning are eligible for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar.
- For the year 2019, 8th Battalion of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) located at Ghaziabad has been selected for the Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar for its commendable work in Disaster Management. In the recent Kerala Floods, the battalion rescued 5338 victims & evacuated 24,000 persons to safety .
5 . GSTAT
Cabinet approves creation of the National Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT)
About GSTAT
- The Union Cabinet has approved the creation of National Bench of the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).
- The National Bench of the Appellate Tribunal shall be situated at New Delhi. GSTAT shall be presided over by its President and shall consist of one Technical Member (Centre) and one Technical Member (State).
Details
- Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal is the forum of second appeal in GST laws and the first common forum of dispute resolution between Centre and States.
- The appeals against the orders in first appeals issued by the Appellate Authorities under the Central and State GST Acts lie before the GST Appellate Tribunal, which is common under the Central as well as State GST Acts.
- Being a common forum, GST Appellate Tribunal will ensure that there is uniformity in redressal of disputes arising under GST, and therefore, in implementation of GST across the country.
- Chapter XVIII of the CGST Act provides for the Appeal and Review Mechanism for dispute resolution under the GST Regime.
- Section 109 of this Chapter under CGST Act empowers the Central Government to constitute, on the recommendation of Council, by notification, with effect from such date as may be specified therein, an Appellate Tribunal known as the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal for hearing appeals against the orders passed by the Appellate Authority or the Revisional Authority.
6 . Stand by swap
Cabinet approves Amendment to the ‘Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries’ to incorporate ‘Standby Swap’ amounting to USD 400 million operated within the overall size of the facility
About the Release
- The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given ex-post facto approval for amendment to the ‘Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries’ to incorporate a ‘Standby Swap’ amounting to USD 400 million operated within the overall size of the Facility of USD 2 billion and build in flexibility with respect to modalities of its operation, such as period of swap, roll over, etc. after due consideration of conditions of requesting SAARC member countries and domestic requirements of India.
Background:
- Cabinet approved the Framework on Currency Swap Arrangement for SAARC Member Countries on March 1, 2012 with the intention to provide a line of funding for short term foreign exchange requirements or to meet balance of payments crises till longer term arrangements are made or the issue is resolved in the short-term itself.
- Under the Facility, RBI offers swaps of varying sizes in USD, Euro or INR to each SAARC member country depending on their two months import requirement and not exceeding US$ 2 billion in total.
- The swap amount for each country has been defined in the above Facility, subject to a floor of USD 100 Million and a maximum of USD 400 Million. Each Drawal will be for three months tenor and upto maximum of two rollovers.
- RBI will negotiate the operational details bilaterally with the Central Banks of the SAARC countries availing the Standby Swap.
Salient features
- Due to heightened financial risk and volatility in global economy, short term swap requirements of SAARC countries could be higher than the agreed lines.
- The incorporation of ‘Standby Swap’ within the approved SAARC Swap Framework would provide necessary flexibility to the Framework and would enable India to provide a prompt response to the current request from SAARC member countries for availing the swap amount exceeding the present limit prescribed under the SAARC Swap Framework.
7 . MoUs Signed
MoC between India and Japan in the field of Food Processing Industry
Benefits
- Bilateral cooperation in the field of food processing between India and Japan will be mutually beneficial to the food processing sector in both countries.
- It will promote understanding of best practices in food processing in the two countries and will help in improving the food processing sector as well as improved market access, leading to equity and inclusiveness.
- The MoC will lead to betterment of the food processing sector in the country by introducing innovative techniques and processes. It will help in increasing food processing in the country by getting access to best practices and better markets
Memorandum of Understanding between India and Kuwait for cooperation on the Recruitment of Domestic Workers
About the MoU
- The MOU provides a structured framework for cooperation on domestic workers related matters and provides strengthened safeguards for Indian domestic workers including female workers deployed in Kuwait.
- The MOU is initially valid for a period of five years and incorporates provision for automatic renewal.
Implementation Strategy
- Under this MOU, a Joint Committee will be set up to follow up the implementation of this MOU.
Major Impact
- The MOU will promote bilateral cooperation in domestic workers related matters between the two countries.
Beneficiaries
- Around 3,00,000 Indian domestic workers deployed in Kuwait. This includes around 90,000 female domestic workers.
8 . Facts for Prelims
National Girl Child day (NGCD)
- The Women & Child Development Ministry celebrate National Girl Child Day (NGCD) on 24th January, 2019
- The programme will also observe anniversary of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme.
- The theme of this NGCD is “Empowering Girls for a Brighter Tomorrow” and celebrating with objectives of generating awareness on the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and create a positive environment around valuing the girl child.
About Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)
- BBBP is a comprehensive programme to address the declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) and related issues of empowerment of women over a life-cycle continuum. The specific objectives of the scheme include preventing gender biased sex selective elimination; ensuring survival and protection of the girl child and ensuring education and participation of the girl child
- Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) Scheme was launched in 2015 at Panipat in Haryana.
- Seeing the good progress and improving trend of Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) in 161 implementing districts, scheme was expanded to all parts of India covering all 640 districts (as per Census 2011)
- Out of 640 districts, 405 districts are covered under advocacy & multi-sectoral action while the remaining 235 districts are covered under media advocacy & outreach.
- It is a tri-ministerial effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.
- BBBP Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme with 100% financial assistance for District level component and the fund are directly released to the DC/DM’s account for smooth operation of the Scheme.
- At the Central level, Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal ministry for the programme
- At the State level, Chief Secretaries heads the State Task Force (STF) with representation of Department of WCD, Health and Education to monitor the implementation of the scheme.
- The District Collectors/Deputy Commissioners (DCs) lead and coordinate action of all departments for implementation of BBBP at the District level.
- The improving trend in Sex Ratio at Birth (SRB) by 9 points has been seen at all India level from 918 in F.Y. 2014-15 to 927 in F.Y. 2017-18 (up to January, 2018) in as per HMIS report received from MoH&FW.
The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT)
- The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s premiere container portgot listed amongst the top 30 container ports globally, as per the latest Lloyds Report.
- JNPT notched up five spots, to be 28th on the list, compared to its previous ranking.
- It is the only Indian Port to be listed