PIB Analysis : 31st August 2022

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PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

  1. Price Support and Price Stabilization Fund
  2. Exercise Synergy
  3. e – awaas
  4. Facts for Prelims

1 . Price Support and Price Stabilization Fund

Context : The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved disposal of Chana (Pulses) to States/UTs at discounted rate to be utilized for various Welfare Schemes from the stock of pulses procured under Price Support Scheme (PSS) & Price Stabilization Fund (PSF)

About Price Stabilization Fund

  • The Price Stabilization Fund (PSF) was set up in 2014-15 under the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Famers Welfare (DAC&FW) to help regulate the price volatility of important agri-horticultural commodities like onion, potatoes and pulses were also added subsequently.
  • The PSF scheme was transferred from DAC&FW to the Department of Consumer Affairs (DOCA) w.e.f. 1st April, 2016.
  • The scheme provides for maintaining a strategic buffer of aforementioned commodities for subsequent calibrated release to moderate price volatility and discourage hoarding and unscrupulous speculation. For building such stock, the scheme promotes direct purchase from farmers/farmers’ association at farm gate/Mandi.
  • The PSF is utilized for granting interest free advance of working capital to Central Agencies, State/UT Governments/Agencies to undertake market intervention operations. Apart from domestic procurement from farmers/wholesale mandis, import may also be undertaken with support from the Fund.

2 . Exercise Synergy

Context : Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) under Ministry of Electronics & IT, Government of India, in collaboration with Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA), today, successfully designed & conducted the Cyber Security Exercise “Synergy” for 13 Countries as part of the International Counter Ransomware Initiative- Resilience Working Group which is being led by India under the leadership of National Security Council Secretariat(NSCS). 

About Exercise Synergy

  • The theme of the exercise was “Building Network Resiliency to counter Ransomware Attacks”. The exercise scenario was derived from real life cyber incidents, in which a domestic level (limited impact) ransomware incident escalates to a global cyber security crisis. 
  • Exercise “Synergy” was hosted by CERT-In on its exercise simulation platform. Each State participated as a National Crisis Management Team having composition from different government agencies including National CERTs/CSIRTs, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA), Communication & IT/ICT Ministry and Security agencies.
  • The specific objective of the exercise was to Assess, Share and Improve strategies and practices among Member-States to build network resiliency against ransomware & cyber extortion attacks.

About Ransomware

  • Ransomware is a type of malware from cryptovirology that threatens to publish the victim’s personal data or permanently block access to it unless a ransom is paid.
  • While some simple ransomware may lock the system without damaging any files, more advanced malware uses a technique called cryptoviral extortion.

3 . CAPF – eAwas Web Portal

Context : Union Home and Cooperation Minister Shri Amit Shah will launch the “CAPF eAwas” web-porta..

  • In order to increase Housing Satisfaction Ratio (HSR) for Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), apart from construction of new houses, the existing house allotment policy of CAPFs has been modified whereby vacant houses of one Force can be allotted to desirous personnel of other Forces.
  • In order to operationalize the revised policy of allotment and to also bring transparency in the allotment process, a common web-portal by the name ‘CAPF eAwas’ for online allotment of Departmental Pool Residential Accommodation and Separated Family Accommodation (SFA) held by CAPFs and Assam Rifles, has been developed.
  • The web-portal will enable online registration and allotment of residential quarters/SFAs to eligible personnel of all CAPFs& Assam Rifles.

Key Features

  • CAPF eAwas portal, which has been developed on the lines of the online allotment system of ‘General Pool Residential Accommodation (eSampada)’, will facilitate maintenance of an accurate inventory of ‘Residential Quarters/Separated Family Accommodation (SFA)’ held by CAPFs, as well as their allotment through online process to eligible Force personnel.
  • The portal also has the provision for intimation to the applicant thru SMS and e-mail at various stages of allotment process.
  • The portal would also facilitate planning for construction of new quarters based on demand-gap analysis.
  • The portal has a provision that if a house of any particular Force is not allotted for any reason for a period of four months, then anyCentral Armed Police Force personnel can apply for the same vacant house online. The houses which are available for inter-Force allotment would be visible to all CAPF personnel. This provision of inter-Force allotment will result in optimum utilization of available houses and thereby increasing the HSR.

About CAPF

  • CAPFs is a uniform nomenclature for the six Forces of the Union of India under the Ministry of Home Affairs.
  • These Forces are, the Assam Rifles (AR), the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

4 . Facts for Prelims

World Coconut Day

  • All coconut producing countries of the Asia-Pacific region celebrate World Coconut Day every year on 2nd September, coinciding with the Foundation Day of the International Coconut Community (ICC). ICC is an intergovernmental organization.
  • The purpose of celebrating Coconut Day is to raise awareness and highlight the importance of coconut and to draw national and international attention to this crop. An international workshop will also be held in Kochi on this occasion.

NDMA’s Integrated Public Alert System

  • NDMA’s Integrated Public Alert System has been developed by C-DOT and provides a converged platform for dissemination of targeted alerts and advisories to people living in disaster-prone areas in vernacular languages over all available communication media including SMS, Cell Broadcast, Radio, TV, Siren, Social Media, Web Portals and Mobile Applications.
  • The system is already operational in 34 States and UTs. More than 75 Crores SMSes have already been sent by the system for various disasters like Cyclones (Asani,Yass, Nivar, Amphan), Floods (Assam, Gujarat), Lightning (Bihar), etc. The system has also been used to facilitate the pilgrims during Amarnath Ji Yatra.

PM-KISAN

  • Under the PM-KISAN, eligible farmers are given Rs. 6,000 in 3 equal instalments of Rs. 2,000 each every year, so that they can meet the agricultural and allied expenses along with the domestic needs. Since its launch in February-2019, 11 instalments have been disbursed under the PM-KISAN. More than Rs. 2 lakh crore has been transferred to about 11.37 crore eligible farmers through this scheme.
  • The benefit of PM-Kisan is given only to the farmers with land holdings. A database is being created for quick identification of eligible farmers for PM-KISAN and other schemes and farmers’ welfare schemes to be launched in the future. It will have all the information including Aadhaar, bank account of farmers and the land records of farmers will be linked with their records. The land records of the States will have to be digitally converted to create the database.

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