PIB Analysis Date: 19/12/2018

PIB ANALYSIS FOR UPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAM

Topics Covered

1. GSAT 7A
2. NITI Aayog Strategy for New India at 75
3. Competition commission of India
4. Landing craft utility MK IV
5. Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS)
6. Deendayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushalya Yojana
7. Year end review

1 . GSAT 7 A

GSLV-F11 successfully launches GSAT-7A

About GSAT 7 A

• GSAT-7A is the 39th Indian communication satellite of ISRO to provide services to the users in Ku-band over the Indian region. It is an advanced communication satellite with a Gregorian Antenna and many other new technologies.
• GSAT-7A is the heaviest satellite being launched by GSLV with an indigenously developed cryogenic stage.“The cryogenic stage of this vehicle has been modified to increase the thrust rate.
• Most of the functional requirements of the communication payloads and the other systems have been derived from ISRO’s earlier geostationary INSAT/GSAT satellites.

About GSLV

• GSLV is ISRO’s fourth generation launch vehicle with three stages. The four liquid strap-ons and a solid rocket motor at the core form the first stage. The second stage is equipped with a high thrust engine using liquid fuel. The cryogenic upper stage forms the third and final stage of the vehicle. GSLV-F11 was the seventh flight carrying indigenously developed cryogenic upper stage.

2 . NITI Aayog Strategy for New India

NITI Aayog releases Strategy for New India @ 75

About the Report

• The NITI Aayog unveiled its comprehensive national Strategy for New India, which defines clear objectives for 2022-23.
• It is a detailed exposition across forty-one crucial areas, that recognizes the progress already made, identifies binding constraints, and suggests the way forward for achieving the clearly stated objectives.
• he overarching focus of the Strategy document is to further improve the policy environment in which private investors and other stakeholders can contribute their fullest towards achieving the goals set out for New India 2022 and propel India towards a USD 5 trillion economy by 2030.
• The forty-one chapters in the document have been disaggregated under four sections: Drivers, Infrastructure, Inclusion and Governance.

Drivers

• The first section on Drivers focuses on the engines of economic performance with chapters on growth and employment, doubling of farmers’ incomes; upgrading the science, technology and innovation eco-system; and promoting sunrise sectors like fintech and tourism.

Some of the key recommendations in the section on drivers

• Steadily accelerate the economy to achieve a GDP growth rate of about 8% on average during 2018-23. This will raise the economy’s size in real terms from USD 2.7 trillion in 2017-18 to nearly USD 4 trillion by 2022-23. Increase the investment rate as measured by gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) from the present 29% to 36% of GDP by 2022.
• In agriculture, shift the emphasis to converting farmers to ‘agripreneurs’ by further expanding e-National Agriculture Markets and replacing the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee Act with the Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing Act.
• Give a strong push to ‘Zero Budget Natural Farming’ techniques that reduce costs,improve land quality and increase farmers’ incomes. This has emerged as a tested method for putting environment carbon back into the land.
• To ensure maximum employment creation, complete codification of labor laws and a massive
• effort must be made to upscale and expand apprenticeships.
• Launch a mission “Explore in India” by revamping minerals exploration and licensing policy.

Infrastructure

• The second section on Infrastructure deals with the physical foundations of growth which are crucial to enhancing the competitiveness of Indian business as also ensuring the citizens’ ease of living.

Some of the key recommendations in the section on infrastructure

• Expedite the establishment of the Rail Development Authority (RDA), which is already approved. RDA will advise or make informed decisions on an integrated, transparent and dynamic pricing mechanism for the railways.
• Double the share of freight transported by coastal shipping and inland waterways. Initially,viability gap funding will be provided until the infrastructure is fully developed. Develop an IT-enabled platform for integrating different modes of transport and promoting multi-modal and digitized mobility.
• With the completion of the Bharat Net programme in 2019, all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats will be digitallyconnected. Aim to deliver all government services at the state, district, and gram panchayat level digitally by2022-23.

Inclusion

• The section on Inclusion deals with the urgent task of investing in the capabilities of all of India’s citizens. The three themes in this section revolve around the dimensions of health, education and mainstreaming of traditionally marginalized sections of the population.

Some of the key recommendations in the section on inclusion

• Successfully implementing the Ayushman Bharat programme including the establishment of 150,000 health and wellness centres across the country, and rolling out the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan (PM-JAY).
• Create a focal point for public health at the central level with state counterparts. Promote integrative medicine curriculum.
• Upgrade the quality of the school education system and skills, including the creation of a new innovation ecosystem at the ground level by establishing at least 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs by 2020.
• Conceptualize an electronic national educational registry for tracking each child’s learning outcomes.
• As already done in rural areas, give a huge push to affordable housing in urban areas to improve workers’ living conditions and ensure equity while providing a strong impetus to economic growth.

Governance

• The final section on Governance delves deep into how the governance structures can be streamlined and processes optimized to achieve better developmental outcomes.

Some of the key recommendations in the section on governance

• Implement the recommendations of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission as a prelude to appointing a successor for designing reforms in the changing context of emerging technologies and growing complexity of the economy.
• Set up a new autonomous body, viz., the Arbitration Council of India to grade arbitral institutions and accredit arbitrators to make the arbitration process cost effective and speedy, and to preempt the need for court intervention.
• Address the backlog of pending cases – shift part of workload out of regular court system.
• Expand the scope of Swachh Bharat Mission to cover initiatives for landfills, plastic waste and municipal waste and generating wealth from waste.

You can read the whole document from here Link

3 . Competition Commission of India

Third Roadshow On Competition Law organized by Competition Commission of India on 18TH December in Ahmedabad

Need of Competition Commission of India

• Competition is the best means of ensuring that the ‘Common Man’ or ‘Aam Aadmi’ has access to the broadest range of goods and services at the most competitive prices. With increased competition, producers will have maximum incentive to innovate and specialize.
• This would result in reduced costs and wider choice to consumers. A fair competition in market is essential to achieve this objective.
• Goal is to create and sustain fair competition in the economy that will provide a ‘level playing field’ to the producers and make the markets work for the welfare of the consumers.

The Competition Act

• The Competition Act, 2002, as amended by the Competition (Amendment) Act, 2007, follows the philosophy of modern competition laws.
• The Act prohibits anti-competitive agreements, abuse of dominant position by enterprises and regulates combinations (acquisition, acquiring of control and M&A), which causes or likely to cause an appreciable adverse effect on competition within India.

Competition Commission of India

• The objectives of the Act are sought to be achieved through the Competition Commission of India (CCI), which has been established by the Central Government
• CCI consists of a Chairperson and 6 Members appointed by the Central Government.
• It is the duty of the Commission to eliminate practices having adverse effect on competition, promote and sustain competition, protect the interests of consumers and ensure freedom of trade in the markets of India.
• The Commission is also required to give opinion on competition issues on a reference received from a statutory authority established under any law and to undertake competition advocacy, create public awareness and impart training on competition issues.

4 . Landing craft utility MK IV

Commissioning of Fifth Ship of Landing Craft Utility Mk-IV ‘IN LCU L55’ (GRSE Yard 2096) At Port Blair- 19 December 2018

About LCU MK-IV

• LCU Mk-IV ship is an amphibious ship with its primary role being transportation and deployment of Main Battle Tanks, Armoured Vehicles, troops and equipment from ship to shore.
• IN LCU L55 is the fifth ship of Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Mk-IV class to be inducted into the Indian Navy.
• These ships based at the Andaman and Nicobar Command, can be deployed for multirole activities like beaching operations, search and rescue, disaster relief operations, supply and replenishment and evacuation from distant islands.
• The ship has been indigenously designed and built by M/s Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata. The Commissioning of IN LCU L55 is yet another manifestation of the country’s indigenous design and ship building capability.
• The ship, displacing 830 Tons, is capable of transporting various kinds of combat equipment such as the Main Battle Tank, T72 and other vehicles. The ship is fitted with state-of-the-art equipment and advanced systems like Integrated Bridge System (IBS) and Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS).

5 . Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS)

Live Electronic Exchange of data between Courts and Police

What is ICJS

• Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS) is an ambitious project aiming to integrate the Crime and Criminals Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) project with the e-courts and e-prisons databases, as well as with other pillars of the criminal justice system such as Forensics, Prosecution, and Juvenile homes in a phased manner.
• Now Courts can consume live data of FIR and Charge-Sheet from police. If FIR is ready in electronic form in system of police, ICJS interface will indicate to the Court that about readiness to FIR data to be consumed. On consumption Court will get details of FIR Number, names of the accused, details of the offence, Time, date, place of occurrence, details of arrest etc. Courts will be able to consume this live electronic data from police. In reciprocation, Courts will send all remand details, bail details, property release etc. to police. Police will be able to see the updates of each FIR and will also be able to see orders passed by the Court in remand, bail or release of property.

What is E- Courts

• The eCourts Project was conceptualized on the basis of the “National Policy and Action Plan for Implementation of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the Indian Judiciary – 2005” submitted by eCommittee, Supreme Court of India with a vision to transform the Indian Judiciary by ICT enablement of Courts.
• Ecommittee is a body constituted by the Government of India in pursuance of a proposal received from Hon’ble the Chief Justice of India to constitute an eCommittee to assist him in formulating a National policy on computerization of Indian Judiciary and advise on technological communication and management related changes.
• The eCourts Mission Mode Project, is a Pan-India Project, monitored and funded by Department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice, Government of India for the District Courts across the country.

Objectives of the Project

• To provide efficient & time-bound citizen centric services delivery as detailed in eCourt Project Litigant’s Charter.
• To develop, install & implement decision support systems in courts.
• To automate the processes to provide transparency in accessibility of information to its stakeholders.
• To enhance judicial productivity, both qualitatively & quantitatively, to make the justice delivery system affordable, accessible, cost effective, predictable, reliable and transparent.

Phase-I

• In Phase-I of the eCourts Project beginning from 2007, a large number of Court Complexes, Computer Server Rooms and Judicial Service Centres were readied for computerization of the District Courts. The District and Taluka Court Complexes covered in Phase-I were computerized with installation of hardware, LAN and Case Information Software (CIS), for providing basic case related services to the litigants and the lawyers.

Phase 2

• In Phase-II, all the remaining Court Complexes are provisioned to be connected with Jails and Desktop based Video Conferencing to go beyond routine remands and production of under-trial prisoners. It will also be used for recording evidence in sensitive cases and gradually extended to cover as many types of cases as possible.
• The Phase-II of the project lays great emphasis on service delivery to the litigants, lawyers and other stakeholders. The websites will be Accessible Compliant and to the extent possible, the information will be available in the local languages. The applications for mobile phones , SMS and emails are extensively used as platforms for dissemination of information. Kiosk will be provided for every Court Complex. Certified copies of documents will be given online and ePayment Gateways will be provided for making deposits, payment of court fees, fines etc. The National Judicial Data Grid (NJDG) will be further improvised to facilitate more qualitative information for Courts, Government and Public.

6 . Deendayal Upadhyay Gramin Kaushalya Yojana

Mord Signs MoU with Maruti Suzuki India Ltd for Training Rural Youth for Skill Development Under Deendayal upadhyaya grameen kaushalya yojana (Ddu-Gky)

About Deendayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

• Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) is the flagship placement linked skill-training programme under the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).
• There are several challenges that are preventing India’s rural poor from competing such as the lack of formal education and employability skills. DDU-GKY bridges this gap by funding training projects with an emphasis on placement, retention, career progression and foreign placement.The mission of the flagship scheme of MoRD is to ensure rural poor youth are skilled in market relevant trades and job-relevant competencies.
• One of the ways in which DDU-GKY aims to achieve this is through the“Champion Employers”policy.The Champion Employers are the industry leaders who have the potential to provide training and captive employment to the DDU-GKY candidates.The policy seeks a strategic alignment of objectives of DDU-GKY with the HR strategy of organizations, which have a large potential to absorb trained manpower.

About the Release

• MoRD signed MOU with Maruti Suzuki India Ltd for training rural youth for skill development
• This partnership between the government and the leading industry from the automotive sector will provide training to atleast 5000 candidates in two years with assured placement to the rural youth of our country.

7 . Year End Review

• Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
• Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation Swachh Bharat Mission
• Ministry of AYUSH

8 . Based on the question asked in the Parliament

Steps taken by the Govt to make the Grievance Redressal Mechanism effective for quick disposal

• Review of Grievances of identified Ministry/Department is undertaken every month during meetings conducted on PRAGATI (Pro-Active Governance and Timely Implementation) platform. 
• For effective monitoring of grievances at Secretary level, an electronic Dashboard has been created showing the consolidated status of grievances disposed and pending, on CPGRAMS. Weekly reminders through SMS are also being sent for pending grievances. 
• A Grievance Analysis Study in respect of  top 20 grievance receiving Ministries/ Departments/ Organizations listed on CPGRAMS for identifying grievance prone areas, their root cause analysis and suggested systemic reforms for reducing such grievances, has been carried out by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances. Several suggested systemic reforms have been implemented by the concerned Ministries/Departments.  Some of these reforms are: automatic refunds on cancellation of Railway Tickets, Single Window Pension through disbursing Banks, intensive mechanized cleaning of coaches, e-verification of Income Tax Returns, expeditious Income Tax Returns upto Rs.50,000/-,  etc.
• In continuation of the Grievance Analysis Study in respect of top 20 Ministries/ Departments receiving maximum grievances on CPGRAMS, another Grievance Analysis Study for next 20 Ministries/ Departments receiving bulk of the grievances has also been carried out by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances.
• A Public Grievances Call Centre has been set up for reminding the concerned officials of top 40 Ministries/Departments/Organizations for expeditious disposal of grievances pending for more than 2 months. 
• An Award Scheme has been launched for recognising outstanding performance with respect to disposal of grievances on CPGRAMS on a quarterly basis through issue of Certificate of Appreciation.
• Review meetings are being taken on regular basis with the representatives of Central   Ministries/ Departments for monitoring pendency of public grievances.
• Training on CPGRAMS is conducted on regular basis.       
• A new Mobile App which is more user-friendly for lodging of public grievances has been developed.  The Grievance Action Status can also be viewed on the mobile itself.  This has been integrated with Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance (UMANG).  This initiative also facilitates lodging of grievance anywhere anytime.