Government Schemes Connect to Current -Daily Current Capsules 25th February 2019

Connect to Current -Daily Current
Capsules
25th February 2019

Government Schemes
PM launches “PM-KISAN” from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about PM-KISAN) + Mains (GS III farmer welfare +
issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidy)

What’s the NEWS
    The Prime Minister, launched the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi
     (PM-KISAN) from Gorakhpur.

    With the launch,the first instalment of Rs 2,000 will be directly
     credited to the bank accounts of selected beneficiary farmers.

 About 12 crore farmers are expected to benefit from PM-KISAN.

Know! more about PM KISAN

   PM KISAN is a Central Sector scheme with 100% funding from the
    Government of India. It has become operational from 1.12.2018.

   Under the scheme, income support of Rs.6000/- per year in three equal
    instalments will be provided to small and marginal farmer families having
    combined land holding/ownership of up to 2 hectares.

   The Prime Minister said that PM-KISAN depends on direct transfer, and
    therefore the entire amount will reach the beneficiary.

   The amount will be given in three instalments of Rs 2,000 each and will
    be transferred directly to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through the
    direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.

   The Direct Benefit Transfer will ensure transparency in the process and
    save time for farmers. The Scheme was introduced to augment the
    income of small and marginal farmers and is estimated to benefit over 12
    crore farmers.

   The PM-KISAN scheme aims to supplement the financial needs of small
    and marginal farmers in procuring various inputs to ensure proper crop
    health and appropriate yields, commensurate with the anticipated farm
    income at the end of each crop cycle.

Women Empowerment
MSME Ministry’s First Conclave on Empowering Marginalised
Sections’ Women Entrepreneurs

Relevance IN – Prelims( about MSME recent updates) + Mains (GS I women
organisation + GS II social justice)

What’s the NEWS
   Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME, will organise
    a Conclave “Empowering Women Entrepreneurs 2019, Financing &
    Enabling Women from Marginalised Sections

Know! more about the conclave
   The first of its kind conclave endeavours to empower women
    entrepreneurs from marginalised sections and enable their growth and
    success in business by offering substantial knowledge on various business
    opportunities and national best practices in doing business.

   The conclave is being organized under National SC-ST Hub initiative of
    the MSME ministry which is targeted towards developing a supportive
    ecosystem towards SC/ST entrepreneurs.

   Issues of access to financing, assessing risks and growth mantras
    enabling SC-ST women entrepreneur to setup and run a sustainable
    business will be discussed during the day long programme.

Human Resource Development
Grand Finale of third edition (Software) of Smart India Hackathon-
2019

Relevance IN – Prelims( about Hackathon 2019 ) + Mains ( GS II issues
relating to development and management of education and human resource)

What’s the NEWS

   The third edition (Software) of the biggest ever Smart India Hackthon -
    2019 going to be held at 48 nodal centres across the country
    simultaneously.

Know! more about the Hackthon
   Smart India Hackathon is a unique initiative to identify new and
    disruptive digital technology innovations for solving the challenges
    faced by our country.

   It is a non-stop digital product development competition, where
    problems are posed to technology students for innovative solutions.

   The Grand Finale of third edition (Software) of Smart India Hackathon-
    2019 will be held on 2nd – 3rd March, 2019.

   In SIH 2019, the students would also have the opportunity to work on
    challenges faced within the private sector organisations and create
    world class solutions for some of the top companies in the world, thus
    helping the Private sector hire the best minds from across the nation.

   The SIH is the largest ever Hackathon in the world and the only one to be
    held at the national level.

   So far, two editions of SIH have been conducted successfully.

Know! about SIH 2017 and 2018
   The first two editions SIH-2017 and SIH-2018 proved to be extremely
    successful in promoting innovation, out-of-the-box thinking in young
    minds, especially engineering students from across India.

   'Smart India Hackathon 2017' was conducted as a pan India 36 hour non-
    stop digital programming competition where participating teams have
    simultaneously competed from across 26 locations in India to offer digital

yet sustainable innovative solutions to solve real time challenges faced by
      the nation.

    SIH- 2018 was the second massive scale Hackathon initiative in India
     following Smart India Hackathon, 2017.

SIH-2018 was much bigger than its previous edition. It included 2 sub-editions:

   a. Software edition, which was a non-stop 36 hour software product
      development competition, held on Mar 30 & 31, 2018.
   b. The Hardware edition, involving building of hardware solutions was
      inaugurated on 18.06.2018.

    SIH 2019 is even bigger and better than SIH 2018. As compared to about
     17,400 entries during SIH-2018 from over 1 lakh students

International Relations
Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

Relevance IN – Prelims( about FATF) + Mains ( GS III economic development
+ GS II international relation )

What’s the NEWS
    Condemning the Pulwama February 14 attack, the Financial Action Task
     Force (FATF), issued a stern statement to Pakistan to comply with an
     action plan on terror financing or face further action, according to a
     decision taken at its plenary session in Paris.

    The week-long deliberations of the 37-member group decided not to
     remove Pakistan from the ‘grey list’, as Islamabad had lobbied for, but
     also did not accept an Indian demand to move Pakistan to the ‘black list’
     yet.

 The ‘grey-listing’ continued despite a last-minute decision by the
    Pakistan government on Thursday to put the Jamaat-ud Dawa (JuD) and
    the Falah-e Insaniat Foundation (FIF), two offshoots of the Hafiz Saeed-
    led Lashkar-e-Taiba on its ‘schedule-1’ list of banned organisations.

Know! about FATF
   The Financial Action Task Force (on Money Laundering) (FATF), is an
    intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the
    G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering.

   In 2001 its mandate expanded to include terrorism financing. It monitors
    progress in implementing the FATF Recommendations through "peer
    reviews" ("mutual evaluations") of member countries.

   The FATF Secretariat is housed at the OECD headquarters in Paris.

   FATF was formed by the 1989 G7 Summit in Paris to combat the
    growing problem of money laundering. The task force was charged with
    studying money laundering trends, monitoring legislative, financial and
    law enforcement activities taken at the national and international level,
    reporting on compliance, and issuing recommendations and standards to

combat money laundering. At the time of its formation, FATF had 16
   members, which by 2016 had grown to 37. India is a member

 In its first year, FATF issued a report containing forty recommendations
  to more effectively fight money laundering. These standards were revised
  in 2003 to reflect evolving patterns and techniques in money laundering.

 The mandate of the organisation was expanded to include terrorist
  financing following the September 11 terror attacks in 2001.

 The FATF's primary policies issued are the Forty Recommendations on
  money laundering from 1990 and the Nine Special Recommendations
  (SR) on Terrorism Financing (TF).

 Together, the Forty Recommendations and Special Recommendations
  on Terrorism Financing set the international standard for anti-money
  laundering measures and combating the financing of terrorism and
  terrorist acts.

 In addition to FATF's "Forty plus Nine" Recommendations, in 2000
  FATF issued a list of "Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories"
  (NCCTs), commonly called the FATF Blacklist.

 This was a list of 15 jurisdictions that, for one reason or another, FATF
  members believed were uncooperative with other jurisdictions in
  international efforts against money laundering (and, later, terrorism
  financing).

Defence
AK-103 assault rifles

Relevance IN – Prelims ( about the agreement between India – Russia)

What’s the NEWS
    India and Russia are close to concluding an Inter-Governmental
     Agreement (IGA) for a multi-billion deal to locally bulk manufacture
     AK-103 assault rifles
Know! more about the agreement
    India has signed several multi-billion dollar defence deals with Russia in
     the last couple of years and more are in the pipeline.

    There will be direct business negotiations between Kalashnikov from
     Russia and India’s Ordnance Factory Board (OFB)

 The Army has recently signed a contract for 72,400 assault rifles from
     Sig Sauer of the U.S. and another tender for 93,895 Close Quarter Battle
     (CQB) carbines is in advanced stage of conclusion. These rifles are for
     frontline troops deployed in forward areas.
    The Army is looking to replace the indigenous INSAS (Indian National
     Small Arms System) rifles in use with a modern rifle.
    The AK-103 will be bulk produced by the OFB with technology transfer.

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Bio – Technology
Travel on a jet plane, using a little cooking oil

Scientists have successfully tested the conversion of used edible oil
into Bio-ATF

Relevance IN – Prelims( about the bio fuel) + Mains ( GS III awareness in
the field of bio-technology)

What’s the NEWS
    The Dehradun-based Indian Institute of Petroleum has successfully
     finished a pilot test to convert used cooking oil into bio-aviation turbine
     fuel (Bio-ATF), which can be blended with conventional ATF and used
     as aircraft fuel.

    The Institute collected used cooking oil from caterers and hotels in
     Dehradun for the pilot, which has now set the platform for commercial
     use of the technology

    The chemical composition of the used cooking oil is identical to other
     plant-based oils that have been converted to Bio-ATF.Bio-ATF
     production is possible from used cooking oil

    The Bio-ATF derived from used cooking oil is yet to be tested on a flight.
     The pilot test has proven that it is very similar to Bio-ATF derived from
     jatropha oil.

 The test assumes importance as the Food Safety and Standards Authority
     of India (FSSAI) has launched the Repurpose Cooking Oil (RUCO)
     initiative to collect and convert used cooking oil into bio-fuel.
    Reducing the re-use of cooking oil in the food industry will have positive
     public health outcomes and its conversion into Bio-ATF will help the
     aviation sector reduce its carbon footprint
                © 2017 All Rights Reserved. Powered by Summit exclusively for The Hindu

Social Justice
Labour Bureau files MUDRA job report

Relevance IN – Prelims( about the survey) + Mains (GS II social justice)

What’s the NEWS
    The Labour Bureau has completed its survey on employment generated
     by the MUDRA loan scheme, giving the Centre a potential data tool to
     combat other reports showing a dismal scenario on jobs.
Know! about The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana
    It was introduced in April 2015 as an effort to extend affordable credit to
     micro and small enterprises.
    Loans up to ₹10 lakh are extended to these non-corporate, non-farm
     enterprises by the Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency

(MUDRA) through last-mile financial institutions. So far, 15.56 crore
   loans worth a total of ₹7.23 lakh crore have been disbursed.

 One recommendation was to analyse the extent of employment and self-
  employment generated by MUDRA loans.

 Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) is a scheme launched by the
  Hon’ble Prime Minister on April 8, 2015 for providing loans upto 10 lakh
  to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises.

 These loans are classified as MUDRA loans under PMMY.

 These loans are given by Commercial Banks, RRBs, Small Finance
  Banks, Cooperative Banks, MFIs and NBFCs.

 The borrower can approach any of the lending institutions mentioned
  above or can apply online through this portal.

 Under the aegis of PMMY, MUDRA has created three products namely
  'Shishu', 'Kishore' and 'Tarun' to signify the stage of growth /
  development and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit /
  entrepreneur and also provide a reference point for the next phase of
  graduation / growth.

© 2017 All Rights Reserved. Powered by Summit exclusively for The Hindu

Information Technology

India to have own DNS for safe browsing

Relevance IN – Prelims (about DNS) + Mains (GS III awareness in the field of
cyber security )

What’s the NEWS
    The government will soon roll out a public Domain Name Server, or
     DNS, for India aimed at providing a faster and more secure browsing
     experience for Internet users in the country, while ensuring that citizens’
     data is stored locally.
Know! about DNS
    A DNS is a like a directory for the Internet. It helps to convert domain
     names that are easy for people to remember into IP addresses, which are
     used by computers/machines to communicate.

 If the DNS is either slow or fails to work, users will not be able to locate
     web addresses.
    The main aim of bringing own public DNS is to ensure availability,
     particularly for smaller Interest Service Providers (ISPs) who don’t have
     credible DNS.
    There were other open DNS servers, including Google Public DNS, the
     government’s system would prevent users from visiting malicious
     websites.
    The roll-out, which will be executed by the National Informatics Centre –
     the technology arm of the government – will be completed in the next
     four to six months
    NIC is already using the public DNS within the government network.

More benefits of using DNA
    If you use any public DNS, they access and use all your data. It is not that
     users will compulsorily need to shift to India public DNS.

    A user is free to choose any DNS and with the government’s public DNS,
     Indian users’ data would be stored within the country.

Prelims Practise Question

Consider the following statements regarding Domain Name Server(DNS)

         1. A DNS is a like a directory for the Internet which helps to convert
            domain names that are easy for people to remember into IP
            addresses, which are used by computers/machines to communicate.

         2. The main aim of bringing own public DNS is to ensure
            availability, particularly for smaller Interest Service Providers
            (ISPs) who don’t have credible DNS.

Find the correct options from the option given below
   a.   1 only
   b.   2 only
   c.   Both
   d.   None

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