IASbaba Press Information Bureau (PIB) – 10th Feb to 11th Feb 2017
GS-2
Kayakalp awards
(Topic: Issued related to health)
About— Kayakalp awards felicitate Public Health Facilities for maintaining high standards of sanitation and hygiene.
Objectives
- To promote cleanliness, hygiene and infection control practices in public health care facilities
- To incentivize and recognize such public healthcare facilities that show exemplary performance in adhering to standard protocols of cleanliness and infection control
- To inculcate a culture of on-going assessment and peer review of performance related to hygiene, cleanliness and sanitation
- To create and share sustainable practices related to improved cleanliness in public health facilities linked to positive health outcomes.
- It will encourage every public health facility in the country to work towards standards of excellence to help the facilities stay clean and hygienic.
- This does not apply only to physical cleanliness, but to develop and put in place systems and procedures for activities such as bio-waste disposal or protocols etc.
India and Japan
(Topic: International Relations)
About— Seminar on ‘Indo-Pacific Region: Converging India-Japan interests’, organised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF).
About ORF
- ORF began its journey in 1990 and brought together leading Indian economists and policymakers to present the agenda for India’s economic reforms.
- It provides non-partisan, independent, well-researched analyses and inputs to diverse decision-makers in Governments, business communities, and academia and to civil society around the world. ORF seeks to lead and aid policy thinking towards building a strong and prosperous India in a fair and equitable world.
Strategic ties
- India and Japan have signed a Declaration on security cooperation and taken several steps to strengthen the cooperation in defence production and civil nuclear energy.
- Japan’s participation in the Malabar joint exercises for maritime security.
Economic ties
- India has been the biggest recipient of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) loans since 2003.
- Japanese aid has flowed into several critical sectors such as power, transport, communication, irrigation, connectivity projects in Northeast India, modernization of railways and ports.
- Both countries have also entered into a comprehensive economic partnership agreement to boost trade and investment. Japanese private investment has made a great impact particularly on the automobile sector in India.
- Japan is supporting several mega-infrastructure projects like the
- Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor
- Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor
- Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor and
- Mumbai-Ahmadabad high speed railway
Coronary Stent Prices capped, to bring down cost, currently hiked by about 380%
(Topic: Issued related to health)
About— Government of India has issued the notification for fixing the ceiling prices of coronary stents. The step would bring down the cost of coronary stents, currently hiked by about 380%.
Cardiovascular Diseases
- Cardiovascular Diseases (CVD) are major cause of death in India, about 25% of total deaths. Out of these, 90-95% CVD deaths happen due to coronary artery diseases.
- As per the report of National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health, prevalence of CAD in India is about 61.5 million as per 2015 report.
- As per Health Ministry report, more than 3.5 lakh procedures were done in 2015 which used 4.73 lakh stents.
- In 2016, the figure of cardiac stent must have been above 5 lakhs. Presently market size of India made stents is roughly 30%.
- New ceiling prices will promote ‘Make in India’ in a big way and seeing the huge number of patients and future requirement, foreign companies will also try to make in India for cutting costs and remain competitive.
WHO has completed the assessment of the status of the Indian vaccine regulatory system
(Topic: Issued related to health)
About— WHO has completed the assessment of the status of the Indian vaccine regulatory system against WHO NRA (National Regulatory Authority) Global Benchmarking Tool (GBT) for benchmarking and measured the maturity of the system.
Assessment
- The assessment has been carried out by a WHO team comprising lead experts in different areas from WHO Headquarters Geneva, WHO India Country Office, experts drawn from the regulators of USA, Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Indonesia, Thailand and Egypt.
- India is one of the main players in the pharmaceutical industry worldwide. The pharmaceutical industry covers conventional as well as biological medicinal products including vaccines, medical devices, and traditional medicines. India, as a large vaccine producing country, is currently supplying several vaccines to the UN agencies (UNICEF, WHO and PAHO).
- The vaccine manufacturers can only apply for WHO vaccine prequalification if the NRA meets the standards of the WHO NRA published indicators i.e. WHO Global benchmarking Tool on functional regulatory system for vaccines.
GS-3
Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Unnat Krishi Shiksha Scheme
(Topic: Agriculture)
About: It was launched in 2016 to promote agricultural education under which 100 centres are being opened with a fund of Rs.5.35 crore.
READY and ARYA Scheme
- ICAR has launched “Student READY” it is a skill development initiative to strengthen students with skills to take up global challenges and also to improve both their employability as well as ability to set up a venture.
- READY refers to “Rural and Entrepreneurship Awareness Development Yojana”
- Besides this, there is ARYA scheme — Attracting and Retaining Youth in Agriculture — which aims to empower youth in rural areas to take up agriculture, allied and service sector enterprises for sustainable income and gainful employment in selected districts.
- It enables youth to establish network groups to take up resource and capital intensive activities like processing, value addition and marketing.
- ARYA project is implemented in 25 States through KVKs, one district from each State.
PSLV-C37 Successfully Launches 104 Satellites in a Single Flight
(Topic: Science and Technology)
About: In its thirty ninth flight (PSLV-C37), ISRO's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle successfully launched the 714 kg Cartosat-2 Series Satellite along with 103 co-passenger satellites from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota. This is the thirty eighth consecutively successful mission of PSLV. The total weight of all the 104 satellites carried on-board PSLV-C37 was 1378 kg.
- Of the 103 co-passenger satellites carried by PSLV-C37, two – ISRO Nano Satellite-1 (INS-1) weighing 8.4 kg and INS-2 weighing 9.7 kg – are technology demonstration satellites from India. The remaining 101 co-passenger satellites carried were international customer satellites from USA (96), The Netherlands (1), Switzerland (1), Israel (1), Kazakhstan (1) and UAE (1).
Technical challenges during the mission
- Realising the launch of a large number of satellites during a single mission within the time frame sought by the customers from abroad.
- Ensuring adequate separation between all the 104 satellites during their orbital injection as well as during their subsequent orbital life was yet another challenge associated with this complex mission.
In the coming days, the satellite will be brought to its final operational configuration following which it will begin to provide remote sensing services using its panchromatic (black and white) and multispectral (colour) cameras.
Tarini to be Inducted into Indian Navy
(Topic: Science and Technology)
About: The sail boat Tarini is being inducted into the Navy and is slated to be the platform for First Indian All Women Circumnavigation of the Globe expedition of the Indian Navy. INSV Tarini is almost identical to her illustrious predecessor, the iconic Mhadei which has sailed over 115000 nautical miles in the past eight years.
About Tarani and Mhadei
- The boat draws her origin from the famous Tara-Tarini temple of Orissa’s Ganjam district.
- The word Tarini means a Boat and is also a Sanskrit word for Saviour. Tara-Tarini is a patron deity for sailors and merchants and is worshipped for safety and success at sea.
- Tara-Tarini of Orissa is known to have historical linkages with the river Goddess Mhadei- the exclusive boat deity of the Mhadei river of Goa.
- Both the deities Tarini and Mhadei have sculptural similarities.
Indian Seed Congress – 2017 in Kolkata
(Topic: Agriculture)
Theme: “Seed of Joy”
Objectives
- To accelerate agricultural output.
- Develop infrastructural facilities in the villages.
- Promote value addition.
- Expedite the growth of agro-business.
- Create employment in the rural areas .
- Ensuring better livelihood status of the farmers and agriculture workers and their families.
- Discourage migration to urban areas and face the challenges emerging out of economic liberalization and globalization.
Purpose: Improving the Seed replacement rate along with Variety replacement rate so that sustainable agricultural production and productivity could be ensured.
Recent schemes for the welfare of farmers
- Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana
- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana
- Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana
- Pradhan Mantri Krishi Vikas Yojana
- Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana
- Soil Health Scheme
- Neem Coated Urea
- E-National Agriculture Mandi Scheme’s aim at to bring improvement in crop productivity as well as income of the farmers.
Seven points programmes to make the income of the farmers double.
- Big focus on irrigation with large budgets, with the aim of “per drop-more crop”
- Provision of quality seeds and nutrients based on soil health of each field
- Large investments in warehousing and cold chains to prevent post-harvest crop losses
- Promotion of value addition through food processing
- Creation of a national farm market, removing distortions and e-platform across 585 stations
- Introduction of a new crop insurance scheme to mitigate risks at affordable cost
- Promotion of ancillary activities like poultry, beekeeping and fisheries.