Government and other institutions - GS questions based on daily current affairs

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• The National Action Plan for Children, 2016 (NPAC) has been developed by the Ministry of Women & Child Development.
• The NPAC 2016 is based on the principles embedded in the National Policy for Children 2013(NPC 2013) and provides a road-map that links the policy objectives to actionable programmes and strategies as well as indicators for monitoring the progress.

It seeks to ensure the following -


• The Action Plan has four key priority areas - survival, health and nutrition; education and development; protection and participation.
• The NPAC defines objectives, sub-objectives, strategies, action points and indicators for measuring progress under the four key priority areas and also identifies key stakeholders for the implementation of different strategies.
• The plan also puts focus on new and emerging concerns for children such as online child abuse, children affected by natural and man-made disasters and climate change, etc.
• The strategies and action points largely draw upon the existing programmes and schemes of various Ministries/Departments.
• However, for new and emerging issues related to children; it also suggests formulation of new programmes and strategies, as required.
• The plan takes into account the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and provides a roadmap towards achieving them though co-ordination and convergence with different stakeholders.
• The National Policy for Children (2013) provides for formation of a National Co-ordination and Action Group (NCAG) under the Ministry of Women and Child Development to coordinate and implement the plan and monitor the progress with other Ministries concerned as its members.
• The NPAC 2016 takes into account data disaggregated by rural and urban areas for key indicators.
• Reducing maternal and neonatal mortality rates are key outcomes envisaged under Key Priority Area: Survival, Health and Nutrition.

ANSWER: Both 1 and 2

Explanation:

• The Union Cabinet has approved the Indian Institute of Management(IIM) Bill, 2017, under which the IIMs would be declared as Institutions of National Importance which will enable them to grant degrees to their students.

Following are the salient features of the Bill:


• IIMs can grant degrees to their students
• The Bill provides for complete autonomy to the Institutions, combined with adequate accountability.
• Management of these Institutions would be Board driven, with the Chairperson and Director of an Institution which will be selected by the Board.
• A greater participation of experts and alumni in the Board is amongst other important features of the Bill.
• Provision has also been made for inclusion of women and members from Scheduled Castes/Tribes in the Board.
• The Bill also provides for periodic review of the performance of Institutions by independent agencies, and placing the results of the same on public domain.
• The Annual Report of the Institutions will be placed in the Parliament and CAG will be auditing their accounts.
• There is also a provision of Coordination Forum of IIMs as an advisory body.

Background -


• Indian Institutes of Management are the country's premier institutions imparting best quality education in management on globally benchmarked processes of education and training in management.
• IIMs are recognized as world-class management Institutions and Centers of Excellence and have brought laurels to the country.
• All IIMs are separate autonomous bodies registered under the Societies Act.
• Being societies, IIMs are not authorized to award degrees and, hence, they have been awarding Post Graduate Diploma and Fellow Programme in Management.
• While these awards are treated as equivalent to MBAs and Ph.D, respectively, the equivalence is not universally acceptable, especially for the Fellow Programme.

ANSWER: Neither 1 nor 2

Explanation:

• Armed Forces Tribunal or AFT is a military tribunal in India.
• In 1999, the Law Commission's 169th report stated that disciplinary and service matters required quick resolutions and proposed a special tribunal for the military and paramilitary forces.
• Armed forces tribunal bill was steered through Parliament only by the Defence Ministry, leaving paramilitary forces, even the Assam Rifles and Coast Guard, outside the tribunal's purview.
• The Armed Forces Tribunal Act 2007, was passed by the Parliament and led to the formation of AFT.
• It has power provided for the adjudication or trial by Armed Forces Tribunal of disputes and complaints with respect to commission, appointments, enrolments and conditions of service in respect of persons subject to the Army Act, 1950, The Navy Act, 1957 and the Air Force Act, 1950.
• It can further provide for appeals arising out of orders, findings or sentences of courts- martial held under the said Acts and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
• Besides the Principal Bench in New Delhi, AFT has Regional Benches at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Kochi, Mumbai and Jaipur.
• With the exception of the Chandigarh and Lucknow Regional Benches, which have three benches each, all other locations have a single bench.
• Each Bench comprises of a Judicial Member and an Administrative Member.
• The Judicial Members are retired High Court Judges and Administrative Members are retired Members of the Armed Forces who have held rank of Major General/ equivalent or above for a period of three years or more.
• Judge Advocate General (JAG), who have held the appointment for at least one year are also entitled to be appointed as the Administrative Member.
• The Tribunal shall transact their proceedings as per the Armed Forces Tribunal (Procedure) rules, 2008.
• All proceedings in the Tribunal will be in English.
• The Tribunal will normally follow the procedure as is practiced in the High Courts of India.
• The dress as mandated for the officials of the Tribunal including bar will be white shirt, collar band and a black coat/ jacket.

ANSWER: All of the above

Explanation:

• Non-Communicable diseases (NCDs) which are Cardiovascular Diseases (CVDs) such as heart attacks and stroke, Diabetes, Chronic Respiratory Diseases (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases and Asthma) and Cancer inter alia account for over 60% of all mortality in India.
• Of these, nearly 55% are premature mortality.
• This imposes a financial and social cost on families and the country.
• According to the World Economic Forum, India stands to lose $ 4.58 trillion (Rs 311.94 trillion between 2012 and 2030 due to non-communicable diseases.
• Since these conditions do not exhibit symptoms until complications set in, it is essential to detect them early.
• Early detection of NCDs not only enables onset of treatment but prevents high financial costs and suffering.
• For some cancers, survival rates are good when they are detected and treated in the early stages.
• Screening for these conditions, which can be undertaken at the level of the sub centre or Primary health Centres helps early detection and also serves to raise health awareness among people to lead healthy lifestyles.
• Given that primary health care, including prevention and health promotion can lead to improved health and developmental outcomes at much lower cost, the Ministry is now expanding access to prevention and primary care services,
• As part of the National Health Mission, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is launching population based prevention, screening and control programme for five common non-communicable diseases, namely Hypertension, Diabetes, and Cancers of oral cavity, breast and cervix.
• On February 4th coinciding with World Cancer Day, Union Health and Family Welfare Minster is expected to launch the programme.
• The training of frontline workers- the ASHA and ANM which will be initiated and in some sub-centres, population based screening will also start.
• Detailed protocols for treatment, referrals and follow-up on these disease conditions will be provided.
• In the first phase, the population based screening component will be rolled out in 100 districts in 32 states and UTs with about 1000 sub-centres undertaking screening before March 31st of this year.
• ASHAs will also be capturing information on major risk factors so that persons at risk could be counselled on leading healthy lifestyles to prevent onset of NCDs.
• In subsequent phases, Chronic Obstructive Respiratory diseases will be included and the programme will be scaled up to cover other districts.
• Support to states will also be provided for community health promotion and prevention efforts, and referral and treatment.

ANSWER: Child Labour

Explanation:

• The Government of India finally decided last week to ratify the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour and Convention 138 on Minimum Age of Employment.
• The main bottleneck in the way of India ratifying Conventions 182 and 138 was addressing forced or compulsory recruitment of children and appropriately raising the age of employment in hazardous occupations from 14 to 18 years.
• Consequent to the passing of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016 by the Indian Parliament, prohibiting the employment of children up to 14 years of age, and children up to 18 years of age in hazardous occupations, we could ratify Conventions 182 and 138.
• Moreover, our failure to ratify the two conventions, which are two of the eight core labour conventions, despite being a founder-member of the ILO, reflected poorly on us as a nation.
• However, under the provisions of the ILO Conventions 182 and 138, India will not adhere to a fixed deadline by which the worst forms of child labour must be eliminated.

ANSWER: Microsoft

Explanation:

• Microsoft has offered to collaborate with Andhra Pradesh in the areas of e-governance and cyber security.
• Microsoft suggested that Andhra Pradesh should nurture hybrid cloud technology and that it will be a great leap in technology for India and Andhra Pradesh in particular.
• Microsoft has recently acquired LinkedIn and it is working closely with the Singapore government.
• Skill profile of the population, professionals etc. are also being digitized and the same may be replicated in Andhra Pradesh.
• The technology provided by the Microsoft would be utilised, among others to, check school dropouts, improve agricultural productivity and providing better citizen services.
• It will seek to improve the use of Information and Communications Technology, drive digital inclusion, etc.
• According to the MoU, Microsoft India will provide technical knowledge to the A.P. government and support in building three proof-of-concept (PoC) solutions by applying Microsoft Azure Machine Learning and Advanced Visualization method in the fields of education, agriculture and eCitizen services.
• Continuing its commitment to support the government’s initiatives for Cloud adoption and improve citizen services, Microsoft India will continue to engage and train the State government’s key IT executives on Microsoft technologies such as Cloud, Mobility and appropriate Microsoft Technology stack.
• The company will also deliver an exclusive workshop to the government’s key administrative officers on improving productivity by using Microsoft technologies.

ANSWER: 1, 3

Explanation:

• The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad has developed Indian Food Composition Tables (IFCT), an exhaustive and comprehensive compilation of nutritional information on various Indian Foods.
• After 1971, this is the first expansive food composition data to be released having foods analysed from across the country.
• India now joins the elite league of nations having its own complete food composition data base.
• Indian Food Composition Tables (IFCT) is a reference book for all kinds of nutritional evaluations including clinical practice for analysing the diets of patients and devising special diets for them.
• The comprehensive nutrient data bank will cater to the needs of researchers and policy makers for alleviating the nutritional deficiency and the associated disorders in the country.
• The Indian national food sampling and analysis program was initiated by the Indian Council of Medical Research in 2011.
• It was in order to bring out a totally new ICFTs as an authoritative source of food composition data in India.
• In it key foods were to be prioritized and analysed for a comprehensive set of nutrients at the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), Hyderabad.
• IFCT, popularly known as Nutritive Value of Indian Foods (NVIF) contains data which was sampled, analysed and categorized on a massive scale after 45 years of long gap.
• The data enables to monitor food and nutrient availability in the country.
• It serves as a handbook for the dieticians, planners, medical & health professionals and students of nutrition field.
• It forms a basis for development of dietary guidelines, framing of food regulations & food safety, consumer education and educational materials.
• Food industry uses this data for labelling & nutrient claims, product development and reformulation.
• IFCT guides in planning of institutional diets, sports nutrition and food service industry.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• 20,000 youths in Ganga basin states will be trained and deployed to represent Namami Gange programme as “Swachhta Doots”.
• They would go in 29 districts spanning about 2,336 villages along the river in basin states of Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal to spread message of keeping the river clean among the local dwellers and visitors.
• Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), an autonomous organisation under Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has been entrusted with this task.
• The youth, once trained, would exhort and motivate local population and tourists to refrain from polluting river Ganga.
• The Swachhta Doots would educate the target audience about the adverse consequences of polluting Ganga.
• They will also be an asset in providing information on existing government activities like construction of toilets, water harvesting and conservation for creation of a comprehensive database in coordination with National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), the implementing arm of Namami Gange programme.

ANSWER: Railways

Explanation:

• Ministry of Railways has come up with Mission 41k to save Rs. 41000 crore in the next decade in Railways’ energy costs.
• This target will be achieved by taking a slew of measures which include moving 90 per cent of traffic to electric traction over diesel. Presently, this is at 70 per cent of the total rail traffic.
• The ministry plans to achieve this target by doubling the current pace of electrification.
• The railways also aim to procure more and more electricity at cheaper rates through open market instead of sourcing it through DISCOMs and thereby hopes to save as much as 25 per cent on its energy expenses.
• New technologies are also being explored to bring down electric consumption.
• Railways are taking number of steps to reduce energy consumption by using various energy-efficient technologies.
• To change energy mix towards Green Energy in a phased manner, Ministry of Railways plan to set up 1000 MW solar and about 200 MW wind plants.

ANSWER: Only 2

Explanation:

• The term ‘substantial minority population’ in the PM’s new 15 Point Programme applies to such districts/sub-district units where at least 25% of the total population of that unit belongs to minority communities.
• The target group of the programme consists of the eligible sections among the minorities notified under Section 2 (c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992.
• Some of the target states are Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland.
• Lakshadweep is the only Union Territory in this group.
• The programme covers 121 districts of the country where population of Minority Communities is concentrated.
• The Central government has allocated 15% of plan outlays for implementation of the 15 points which are related to various ministries.
• There is no separate budget for 'Prime Minister's New 15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities'.
• It is executed by specific monitoring of flow of funds to minorities or areas with a substantial minority population under different schemes.
• According to the RTI, the ministry is taking forward the Multi-Sectoral Development Programme (MSDP) which aims to improve the living standard of minorities by creating socio-economic infrastructure and providing basic amenities.
• 24 schemes of 11 ministries are covered under the programme.

The 15 points are -
1. Equitable availability of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
2. Improving access to School Education
3. Greater resources for teaching Urdu
4. Modernizing Madarsa Education
5. Scholarships for meritorious students from minority communities
6. Improving educational infrastructure through the Maulana Azad Education Foundation
7. Self-Employment and Wage Employment for the poor
8. Upgradation of skill through technical training
9. Enhanced credit support for economic activities
10. Recruitment to State and Central Services
11. Equitable share in rural housing scheme
12. Improvement in condition of slums inhabited by minority communities
13. Prevention of communal incidents
14. Prosecution for communal offences
15. Rehabilitation of victims of communal riots