7 Feb 2018: UPSC Exam PIB Summary & Analysis

Outsourcing of jobs in Government Departments

• A Ministry or Department may procure certain non-consulting services in the interest of economy and efficiency and prescribe detailed instructions and procedures for this purpose without contravening the basic guidelines provided in rule 199 to 206 of “General Financial Rules 2017”.
• There are detailed procedures laid down for procurement of such non-consulting services including e-procurement in Chapter 6 of the GFR 2017 and the “Manual for Procurement of Consultancy & Other Services, 2017”.
• Ministries are competent to decide the mode depending on the nature of work, nature of competency required etc. Any deviation or violation can be dealt by the Ministry appropriately.
• The wages for the persons engaged on contract/outsourcing cannot be less than the minimum wage fixed/notified by the concerned State Government.

NHAI to Launch Pilot Project for Implementation of “Pay as You Use” Tolling

• Paving the way for the implementation of the Budget announcement regarding “Pay as you use” tolling in India, the National Highways Authority of India is executing a pilot project to study the implement ability of the system in the country.
• The pilot project involves implementing a satellite based electronic toll collection systemrunning on GPS/GSM technology for around 500 commercial vehicles on the Delhi Mumbai national highway.
• The pilot project will look at ways to integrate the new solution with the existing pre-paid wallet account offered by NHAI under the FASTag program.
• It will also draw a comparison between distance based tolling and the existing tolling system, as also virtual tolling Vs normal tolling.

FASTag Program – Pay Toll Online

• It is a simple to use, reloadable tag which enables automatic deduction of toll charges and lets you pass through the toll plaza without stopping for the cash transaction.
• FASTag is linked to a prepaid account from which the applicable toll amount is deducted. The tag employs Radio-frequency Identification (RFID) technology and is affixed on the vehicle’s windscreen after the tag account is active.

National Meet on Grassroot Informatics – VIVID 2018

• It is aimed at showcasing the various initiatives of NIC in creating and enhancing the Digital Infrastructure in the country.
• Some of these are – setting up of ICT infrastructure, developing state of the art products to enable the government and empower the citizens.
• National Informatics Centre (NIC) is organizing a three-day National Meet on Grassroot Informatics- VIVID 2018 from Thursday, 08th February to Saturday, 10th February, 2018 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi.
• The Theme for VIVID 2018 is “Cyber Security and Innovation”.

National Informatics Centre (NIC)

• It was established in 1976, and has since emerged as a “prime builder” of e-Government / e-Governance applications up to the grassroots level as well as a promoter of digital opportunities for sustainable development.
• NIC, through its ICT Network, “NICNET”, has institutional linkages with all the Ministries /Departments of the Central Government, 36 State Governments/ Union Territories, and about 708 District administrations of India.

Village Resource Programme

• To demonstrate the potential of satellite technology for development of rural areas, ISRO established Village Resource Centres (VRCs) on a pilot scale, in association with selected NGOs, Trusts and State Government Departments.
• VRCs have provided various space technology enabled services such as tele-healthcare, tele-education, natural resources information, advisories related to agriculture, career guidance to rural students, skill development and vocational training etc.

Social upgradation in rural areas

Indian Space Programme plays a key role in enabling social upgradation of rural areas through space based inputs towards development of rural areas.

The efforts made by Indian Space Research Organisation benefitting rural and backward areas so far include:

• Mapping of wastelands for enabling prioritisation of watersheds, identification of areas for renewable energy projects and industrial corridor development.
• Mapping of land degradation help in prioritisation of development in the rural areas.
• Geospatially enabled monitoring of developmental activities under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), for Ministry of Rural Development.
• Prepared and deployed National level groundwater prospects maps, including locations for planning recharge structures, as a support for drinking water requirements for Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation.
• Mapping and monitoring of village water bodies for suitability to adopt aquaculture development in the tribal districts as a possible alternative livelihood support.

Construction of new PHWR

• The Government has accorded administrative approval and financial sanction for setting up ten indigenous 700 MW Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs).
• Estimated cost is Rs 1,05,000 crore.
• These ten Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) are being built based on indigenous technology and supply of equipment and services by Indian industry.

Major ports register positive growth of 4.58% during April 2017-January, 2018

• The major ports in India have recorded a growth of 58% and together handled 560.97 Million Tonnes of cargo during the period April 2017 to January, 2018 as against 536.41 Million Tonnes handled during the corresponding period of previous year.
• The highest growth was registered by Cochin Port (18.36%).

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