PIB Summary and Analysis for UPSC Exam: 30 October 2018

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Statue of Unity

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will dedicate the world’s tallest statue, the “Statue of Unity”, to the Nation, at Kevadiya in Gujarat.
The 182 metre statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, will be dedicated to the nation on his birth anniversary, at Kevadiya in Narmada District of Gujarat.
At the launch ceremony, the Prime Minister and other dignitaries will pour soil and Narmada water into a Kalash to mark the dedication of the “Statue of Unity” to the nation. The Prime Minister will press a lever to commence a Virtual Abhishek of the statue.
The Prime Minister will address the gathering.
The dedication ceremony shall also be punctuated by flypast of IAF aircraft, and performances of cultural troupes.

INS Tarangini

The sail training ship of Indian Navy, INS Tarangini based at Kochi, returned after a seven month long sailing across the world to a grand reception at naval base, Kochi on 30 Oct 18.
The Voyage named “Lokayan 18” was flagged off on 10 Apr 18 from Kochi.
During the voyage, the ship has proudly ‘shown the flag’ and highlighted the diverse culture of India across 15 ports in 13 countries.
The ship sailed across the Arabian Sea, Red Sea, Suez Canal, Mediterranean Sea, Strait of Gibraltar, North Atlantic Ocean, Bay of Biscay, English Channel and North Sea, right up to Norway before commencing her homeward passage back to Kochi.
The ship also participated in the culminating event of the ‘Three Festival Tall Ships Regatta’ at Bordeaux, France.
As well as the ‘Tall Ships Races Europe 2018’ which started at Sunderland, UK and touched Esbjerg, Denmark and Stavanger, Norway before finishing at Harlingen, Netherlands.
During the tall ships regatta, the ship sailed along with hundreds of other sailing vessels, of which 200 were ‘Tall Ships’ like herself, besides taking part in the parade of sails, which was conducted at all these ports.

INS Tarangini: About

INS Tarangini is a three masted ‘square rigged’ barque which carries a total of 20 sails.
She is the First Sail Training Ship in Indian Navy and was commissioned on 11 Nov 1997.
In her 21 years of glorious service, she has sailed over 2,20,000 nautical miles to date across the world’s oceans.
She is the first of two Sail Training Ships in the First Training Squadron, the other being INS Sudarshini. The primary role of these Sail Training Ships is to develop character and professionalism, as well as inculcate the qualities of initiative, courage, resilience and esprit-de-corps amongst the Sea Trainees and also impart practical training to them, primarily on navigation, sailing and seamanship.

Good & Replicable Practices & Innovations in Public HealthCare Systems in India

Context:

Shri J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare in the presence of Shri Sarbananda Sonowal, Chief Minister of Assam, inaugurated the 5th National Summit on “Good & Replicable Practices & Innovations in Public Health Care Systems in India” at Kaziranga.

Highlights of his speech:

Referring to the world’s largest health insurance scheme – Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), Shri Nadda said that the scheme has been able to benefit around 1.5 lakh people within the first month of the launch of the programme.
Shri Nadda also emphasized on the need for IT initiatives in the health sector as they can help address gaps where we have challenges of HR, or aid accurate and quick diagnosis to improve clinical decision making particular for remote locations. National Health Mission is also supporting many IT initiatives in States.
He further said that the best practices that have been selected on mHealth and digitalization will provide learnings for other states to adopt the innovations.
He also said that 15,000 Health and Wellness Centres across the country will start operating soon.

KVS National Integration Camp-Ek Bharat Shreshth Bharat

The concept of National Integration Camp is unique in many ways. The 25 regions of KVS will cover 25 Indian States and 25 Countries altogether in terms of the cultural heritage- Dance, Music, Song, and Socio-Economic progress.

About:

This mega-event is a broad platform for the students to display their creativity, originality, artistic skills, etc.
It gives them an opportunity to know about the culture, tradition, art and architecture of not only the other states of India but of the various countries of the world.
In the process of satiating the thirst for information, they overcome many challenges and linguistic and geographical barriers and awaken a strong sense of national pride and widen their horizons with a better cosmopolitan outlook.
In a nut-shell, the programme not only encompasses performing arts but also provides a glimpse of the processes through which they learn and acquire knowledge.

92% MGNREGA wage payments generated on time

In the Financial Year 2018-19, so far 92% wage payments under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) has been generated within 15 days.
This percentage was 26.85% in 2014-15, indicating the remarkable improvement towards making timely payments.
These assets have been for Natural Resource Management (NRM), Water Conservation works, durable assets, and a very large number of Individual Beneficiary Schemes including a 90/95 days’ work availability for poor households in the construction of their own houses under Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G).
Each and every asset under MGNREGS is geo-tagged and available in the public domain for scrutiny.
All current works are monitored by geo-tagging have before, during, and after completion to ensure full transparency in all works.
Nearly 100% expenditure is now through Electronic Fund Management System (e-FMS) indicating the thrust on quality, transparency, and accountability.

Background:

MGNREGS is a demand driven and additional resources will be made available as and when required to ensure that no one is denied work on demand.
Adequate steps have been taken to ensure timely payments and mobilization of additional resources when required.
Reforms in the programme over the last 3 years have substantially improved the quality of durable assets and convergence for effective livelihood diversification.

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