28 June 2018 UPSC Exam PIB Summary Analysis

Launch of MES Website

• Military Engineer Services (MES), which is the dedicated Engineering Department to provide infrastructure (development and maintenance) support to Army, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and DRDO, launched its newly designed website on 28 June 2018.
• The website is bilingual and has been developed in line with aspirations of 3500 officers and approximately 1.2 Lacs subordinate staff of MES. Policies and advisories related to Recruitment, Promotions, Postings and other personnel matters of MES civilian employees would be easily accessed through the Website.
• The website has been made more user-friendly and in conformity with GIGW guidelines.
• Online Registration of Contractors, approved list of contractors and consultants, product approvals and enlistment procedures are the additional facilities which have been added to the website.
• MES publications like MES Regulations, Standard Schedule of Rates and scales of Accommodation have also been made accessible to the authenticated registered users. The website contains information about MES to be published in compliance with section 4(1) of RTI Act 2005.

Institution of “Home Minister’s Special Operation Medal”

• The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has approved the institution of “Home Minister’s Special Operation Medal”. 
• Police Officers of States & Union Territories, Central Police Organisations (CPOs), Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Security Organisation involved in Special Operations will be eligible.

           Institution of three more Medals:

1. the Antarik Suraksha Medal,
2. Asadharan Aashuchan Padak, and
3. Utkrisht & Ati-Utkrisht Seva Medal.

• The Medals will be awarded annually.
• The HM’s Special Operation Medal and Asadharan Aashuchan Padak will be awarded on 15^thAugust coinciding with the Independence Day.
• The Antarik Suraksha Medal and Utkrisht & Ati-Utkrisht Seva Medal will be announced on 26^thJanuary to mark the Republic Day.
• The Asadharan Aashuchan Padak will be given to officials of Intelligence organization of Central Government and Intelligence Dept./wings/Special Branches/Units of all State/UT Police, CPOs, CAPFs, Assam Rifles (AR) and National Security Guard (NSG) for acts of exceptional courage and skill in intelligence gathering.
• The Antarik Suraksha Medal will be bestowed upon Police personnel of States/UTs/ CPOs/CAPFs/Security Organisation in recognition of Operation Duty rendered by them for tenure of every two years in Internal Security in J&K State/LWE region/NE region.
• The Utkrisht and Ati Utkrisht Seva Medal will be awarded to permanent Police personnel and other permanent support staff working in CAPFs, State/UTs Police Forces, CPOs, AR, NSG, Home Guard (HG) and Intelligence organization of Central Govt/State Govt./CAPFs in recognition of Long Service of 15 and 25 year and good service records.
• The medal may be withdrawn if the holder is found guilty of disloyalty or brings the Force to disrepute such as removal, major penalty, criminal offence etc.

Discussion on DISHA initiative with Special Secretaries of States/ UTs

• As part of the ongoing DISHA Week being celebrated from 25^th to 29^th June, 2018 to mark the successful completion of 2 years of the District Development Coordination & Monitoring Committee (DISHA), the Union Minister of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Mines, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, held wide ranging discussions on the DISHA initiative with Special Secretaries of the states/ UTs at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.

Objective: The discussions centered on various topics related to DISHA initiative and ways and means to make it a powerful and potent tool of participative governance. The Minister of State for Rural Development, Shri Ram Kripal Yadav also shared his views in the meeting.

• The Union Rural Development Minister interacted live with 7 Members of Parliament during the course of District Level DISHA Committee Meetings in districts of Dindori, Jodhpur, Jashpur, Sikar, Jalaun, Jabalpur and Sambhal.  
• Government schemes should be implemented in a time-bound manner and the money that is spent on such schemes should commensurate with the progress at the grass root level 
• Shri Tomar, hailing the DISHA initiative, said that data regarding 42 schemes of the ministry are available at one glance and therefore it makes it easy to identify which districts are lagging behind scheme-wise and accordingly corrective action can be taken. 
• The most notable aspect of these meetings is the effective use of IT tools in making the agenda more focused and result oriented. The cutting-edge One Stop – ‘DISHA Dashboard‘ created by the Rural Development Ministry has been designed to facilitate data-driven decision making.
• Real time data from 18 schemes of 9 ministries have been integrated with the Dashboard and other 12 schemes of 8 Ministries are in the process of integration. One Time Passwords or OTPs are being provided to all MPs to ensure that such key data indicators remain protected from misuse.

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