Current Affairs September 2021 UPSC IES IRMS

1.PM POSHAN’ to be continued in Schools

• Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the PM POSHAN scheme in Schools, which is a Centrally Sponsored National Scheme.

• PM-POSHAN for providing one hot cooked meal in Government and Government-aided schools.

• The scheme will replace the existing national program for mid-day meals in schools or Mid-day Meal Scheme.

• It has been launched for an initial period of five years (2021-22 to 2025-26)

• The Mid-day Meal Scheme (under the Ministry of Education) is a centrally sponsored scheme that was launched in 1995. Provides cooked meals to every child within the age group of six to fourteen years studying in classes I to VIII who enrolls and attends the school.

IMPORTANT POINTS PM POSHAN:

1. The scheme will cover 11.8 crore students enrolled in classes 1 to 8 in over 11.2 lakh schools across the country.
2. The government will promote nutritional gardens in schools. The gardens are being provided to offer additional micro-nutrients to students.
3. The new scheme has a provision for supplementary nutrition for children in aspirational districts and those with high prevalence of anaemia.
4. TithiBhojan is a community participation programme in which people provide special food to children on special occasions/festivals.

• A nutrition expert is to be appointed in each school whose responsibility is to ensure that health aspects such as Body Mass Index (BMI), weight, and hemoglobin levels are addressed.

• As per the Global Nutrition Report 2020, India is among 88 countries that are likely to miss global nutrition targets by 2025.
• India has been ranked at 94 among 107 countries in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2020. India has a level of hunger that is “serious”.

2. PM Modi launches Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission

• The nationwide rollout of the project coincides with the National Health Authority (NHA) celebrating the third anniversary of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).

• Ayushman Bharat is a flagship scheme of India which was launched as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

• It aims to provide digital health IDs for all Indian citizens to help hospitals, insurance firms, and citizens access health records electronically when required.

• The pilot project of the Mission had been announced by the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15th August 2020.

• The project is being implemented in the pilot phase in six States & Union Territories.

• Health ID is free of cost, voluntary. It will help in doing analysis of health data and lead to better planning, budgeting and implementation for health programs.

3. RBI permits transfer of fraud loans to ARCs

• Bank of India (RBI) allowed, lenders, to sell loans that are tagged as fraud to the asset reconstruction companies (ARCs).

• Stressed loans, which are in default for more than 60 days or classified as non-performing assets (NPA), can be transferred to ARCs.

• (ARC): It is a specialized financial institution that buys the Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) from banks and financial institutions so that they can clean up their balance sheets.

• The RBI has announced the setting up of a committee, under the chairmanship of Sudarshan Sen, to undertake a comprehensive review of the working of ARCs in the financial sector ecosystem.

4. IPCC report: Sea level rise is certain

• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently published the Assessment Report from Working Group I titled “Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis”. The report calls for is clear climate action.

• The average global temperature is currently 1.09°C higher than pre-industrial levels while the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is 410 ppm as compared to 285 ppm in 1850.

• Sea levels will continue to rise even after emissions are no longer increasing because oceans respond slowly to warming.

5. WHO revises Air Quality norms

• The World Health Organisation (WHO) has revised its global air quality guidelines and recommended more stringent standards for key pollutants.

• WHO set the new standards in the first update of its air quality guidelines since 2005.
• PM 2.5 norms for 24 hours average has been changed to 15 micro-g/m3 against 25 micro-g/m3 in 2005.

• While the PM 2.5 norms for annual average have been changed to 5 micro-g/m3 against the 10 micro-g/m3 in 2005.

NCAP (National Clean Air Programme):

• Under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP), India is committed to minimising 20-30 per cent of air pollution in cities. NCAP was launched in January 2019 by the MoEFCC. It is the first-ever effort in India to frame a national framework for the management of air quality with a time-bound reduction target.

• This action plan seeks to reduce the concentration of coarse and fine particles by at least 20% in the next five years (the base year 2017). This plan comprises 102 non-attainment cities in 23 states and Union territories. These cities were identified by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) by analysing their ambient air quality data between 2011 and 2015.

6. ISRO to develop reusable GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is working on technologies in order to develop a reusable GSLV Mk-III launch vehicle.

• This new technology will help ISRO to land its GSLV Mk-III launch vehicles vertically.

GSLV Mk-III:

• This launch vehicle, chosen as the launch vehicle for Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft, is a three-stage heavy-lift launch vehicle. It was developed by ISRO. It comprises two solid strap-ons, a core liquid booster as well as a cryogenic upper stage. It was designed to carry 4-tons of satellites into the Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) as well as10 tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

7. Mission SpaceX Inspiration4

• SpaceX launched four amateurs on its first-ever private flight

• This was the first time any rocket blasted off toward orbit with an all-amateur crew and no professional astronauts.

• Two men and two women are looking forward to spending three days on the Dragon capsule circling the world.

• This flight is the first entry in the competition for space tourism dollars by SpaceX founder Elon Musk.

8. Sansad TV Launched

• Vice President & Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla launched Sansad TV jointly

• Sansad TV was created by merging the Rajya Sabha TV and Lok Sabha TV in February 2021. The government also appointed the CEO of Sansad TV in March 2021 Ravi Capoor.

Sansad TV:

• Provisionally the channel will comprise 35 themes on which programmes will be aired. Programmes will be similar and in two English and Hindi languages.

9. PM Adarsh Gram Yojna

• Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda informed recently that his ministry will start Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojna covering 36 thousand villages across the country. The villages with a 50 per cent tribal population will be given priority under the rural development programme.

• Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) is a rural development programme that was launched by the central government in the fiscal year 2009–10 for the development of villages that have a higher ratio (over 50%) of people belonging to the scheduled castes.

• The PM Adarsh Gram Yojna was implemented on a pilot basis in 2009-10, covering a total of 1000 villages from 5 States

• Under PM Adarsh Gram Yojna Phase I in 2014-15, another 1500 villages were covered from 11 States.

• Now, the center plans to implement the PM Adarsh Gram Yojna in 36000 villages across the country.

10. 13th BRICS( Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Summit

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired the annual summit of the BRICS which was held virtually.

• The theme for the Summit was ‘[email protected]: Intra-BRICS cooperation for continuity, consolidation, and consensus’.

Key Points:

1. Highlighted the achievement of several new initiatives during India’s Chairship this year (2021), i.e. an Agreement on cooperation in the field of remote-sensing satellites; a virtual BRICS vaccine Research & Development Centre; BRICS Alliance on Green Tourism, etc.
2. Adopted BRICS Counter Terrorism Action Plan.
3. Noted the proposal made by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) for the waiver of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) mechanism to ensure a rapid expansion of the Covid-19 vaccine production around the world.

• Indian flag bearer at the Opening ceremony: Tek Chand, shot put thrower

• Indian flag bearer at the Closing ceremony: Avani Lekhara, shooter.

• TOP IN MEDAL TALLY -China
• INDIA- 24th

• India sent its biggest ever contingent of 54 para-athletes to Tokyo Paralympics to compete across as many as 9 sporting disciplines at the Games.

• The Indian theme song of Paralympics 2020 is “Kar de Kamaal tu”. The composer and singer of the song are Sanjeev Singh, a Divyang cricket player from Lucknow.

• India finished their campaign at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020 with an all-time high of 19 medals which includes five gold, eight silver, and six bronze.

Indian Medal Winners gold