PIB Summary- 25th February, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Khelo India National Winter Games

Context: The second edition of the Khelo India National Winter Games to be inaugurated on February 26.

Details

• The Games will be held from 26th February to 2nd March, 2021 in Gulmarg, Jammu & Kashmir.
• The event has been organised by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, in collaboration with the J&K Sports Council and the Winter Games Association of J&K.
• The sports activities will include alpine skiing, nordic ski, snowboarding, ski mountaineering, ice hockey, ice skating, ice stock, etc.
• 27 States, Union Territories and Boards are sending their teams to participate in the games.
• Khelo India is a national sports development programme launched by the government in a bid to revive the sports culture in India at the grassroots level, thereby turning India into a sporting nation.

Khelo India Programme - Government Scheme

Khelo India Programme is a national yojana/scheme for the development of sports in India. It was launched in the year 2018 by the then Sports Minister Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore in Delhi. This program has been launched to improve the sports culture in India. Aimed at mainstreaming sports as a tool for national development, economic development, community development and individual development, the Union Cabinet approved the execution of the revamped ‘Khelo India’ program by consolidating the ‘Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan’ (formerly called the ‘Yuva Krida & Khel Abhiyan’), the ‘Urban Sports Infrastructure Scheme’ and the National Sports Talent Search System Programme’. The program strives to promote “Sports for Excellence” as well as “Sports for All”.
Candidates can know the detailed information about the Khelo India National Programme for Development of Sports on the Official Website.

Kehlo India Programme Latest Updates

• The Union budget reduced the allocation for sports by ₹230.78 crores for the financial year 2021-22. The ‘Khelo India’ scheme has taken a hit of ₹232.71 crores, with its allocation slashed to ₹657.71 from ₹890.42 crore.
• Khelo India Youth Games 2021 are scheduled to take place in Panchkula (Haryana) after the 2021 Tokyo Olympics (which is set to open on July 23rd). The government has announced that Haryana will host the 4th edition of Kehlo India Youth Games.

Khelo India Youth Games – KIYG

• KIYG is a part of the revamped national program for the development of sports ‘Khelo India’ which was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2017. The 2020 edition of KIYG was held in Guwahati (Assam).

Khelo India Programme

Khelo India Categories
The different categories under the Khelo India program are given below:

• Playfield Development
• Support to National/ Regional/ State/ Sports Academics
• Community Coaching Development
• State Level Khelo India Centers
• Physical education of school children
• Sports for women
• Annual Sports Competition
• Promotion of sports amongst people with disabilities
• Talent search and development
• Sports for Peace and Development
• Utilization and Creation/ Upgradation of Sports Infrastructure
• Promotion of rural and indigenous/ tribal games

Eligibility for Khelo India Programme
The eligibility criteria for the Khelo India program is given below:

• Candidates below the age of 17 can participate in the under-17 category.
• Candidates below the age of 21 can participate in the under-21 category.

Objectives of Khelo India

• It will be a Central Sector Scheme (Scheme implemented by the Central Government machinery and 100% funding by the Union Government).
• It is a Pan India Sports Scholarship scheme covering the 1000 most deserving and talented athletes across the sports discipline, every year.
• Selected athletes will be entitled to a scholarship amount of Five Lakh Rupees for eight consecutive years.
• It is an unprecedented scheme, a first-ever plan to be implemented for creating a long-term development pathway for athletes.
• To enable the sportsman to pursue both studies and sports, the program aims at identifying and promoting 20 Universities in the country as centres of sporting distinction.
• For sports promotion, the latest user-friendly technology would be used. Ex: Geographic Information System (GIS) for locating the sports infrastructure, a user-friendly website for indigenous sports, a National Sports Talent Search Portal and information dissemination for sports training through mobile apps.
• To ensure maximum entries for organized sports competitions, the programme encourages the school and colleges to organize programmes of high standards.
• Forming an active population with a healthy lifestyle is also the focus of this programme. For this purpose, a National Physical Fitness Drive is planned where children falling in the age bracket 10-18 years will be checked for physical fitness. Further, activities to support their physical fitness will be planned.
• The aim is to impact the whole of the sports ecosystem inclusive of the sports economy, competition structure, talent identification, coaching and infrastructure.
• The programme plans to engage youth living in deprived and disturbed areas into sporting activities so that they will be mainstreamed into the process of nation-building and weaned away from disruptive activities.

The India Toy Fair 2021

Context: PM to inaugurate The India Toy Fair 2021.

About The India Toy Fair, 2021

• This initiative is in line with the Prime Minister’s vision of making India a global hub for the Toy Industry.
• The Fair aims to provide an impetus to the underlying themes of “Atmanirbhar Bharat” and “vocal for local” campaigns, launched by the Government to promote indigenous industries.
• It also aims to leverage the potential of toys in making learning joyful across all ages in education.
• The India Toy Fair 2021 intends to bring policy makers, toy manufacturers & distributors, investors, industry experts, MSMEs, artisans, start-ups, children, parents and teachers together on a common platform, in a bid to propel the growth of the Indian Toy Industry, giving it a global competitive edge.
• The main attractions of the Fair include a Virtual Exhibition with over 1000 virtual stalls, webinars by State Governments, knowledge sessions with engaging panel discussions/webinars on diverse topics by experts on areas including toy-based learning, craft demonstrations, competitions, quizzes, virtual tours, product launches, etc.

Mannathu Padmanabhan

Context: PM pays tributes to Sri Mannathu Padmanabhan Ji on his Punya Tithi.

About Mannathu Padmanabhan

• Mannathu Padmanabhan (1878 – 1970) was an Indian social reformer and freedom fighter from Kerala.
• He took part in anti-untouchability agitations and advocated opening temples for people of all castes.
• He also participated in the Vaikom Satyagraha.
• He is also known for his founding of the Nair Service Society (NSS).

India Pharma 2021 & India Medical Devices 2021

Context: Union Minister inaugurated a four-day Global Investors’ meet: India Pharma 2021 & India Medical Devices 2021.

Details

• The event is organised by FICCI along with the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers, Government of India, and Invest India (India’s national investment promotion & facilitation agency, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry).
• EY-FICCI report titled ‘Indian Pharmaceutical Industry 2021: Future is Now’ was also launched during the event.

Key Highlights of the EY-FICCI report

• The opportunities that have emerged to accelerate the growth of Indian pharmaceutical and healthcare industry are – innovation led research and development, healthcare delivery (R&D), manufacturing and supply chain, and market access.
• The Indian pharmaceutical industry has to reinvent and undertake fundamental reforms to achieve the ambitious target of $130 billion in size by 2030.
• To reach that target from the current $42 billion, the Indian pharmaceutical industry will require to double the last decade’s growth rate of 6% to 12%.
• The overall growth has been driven by the industry’s leadership in supplying generic formulations to markets across the globe.
• Accelerating research and innovation:
  • To meet this objective, the industry must consider setting up an overarching regulatory body and a central body to streamline research infrastructure and financing from all government bodies.
• Achieving equitable and sustainable healthcare with support of digital healthcare infrastructure and enabling teleconsulting and focusing on preventive healthcare are also important.
• The focus of manufacturing and supply chain initiatives would be to develop capabilities in active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and enable the manufacturing of complex generics.
• Besides attracting talent, it is vital to encourage and set up pharma machine manufacturing facilities in India to lower fixed costs, enable savings in forex and reduce time to set up additional facilities.
• There is also a need to bolster the logistics infrastructure for connecting the key pharma hubs in the country in order to facilitate quick and cost efficient movement of goods including cold chain facilities.
• Improving access to medicines and various global best practices in drug pricing and procurement models can be contextualized for developing geographies.
• Digital marketing of pharma products too must be considered.

MCA & CBIC sign MoU

Context: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Ministry of Finance, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for data exchange between the two organisations.

About the MoU

• The MoU is in line with the vision of MCA and CBIC to harness data capabilities to ensure effective enforcement.
• Both the organisations are going to benefit from access to each other’s databases which include details of import-export transactions and consolidated financial statements of companies registered in the country.
• The data sharing arrangement gains significance in light of development of MCA21 Version 3 which will utilise state of the art technology for enhancing ease of doing business in India and improve regulatory enforcement and similar steps by CBIC like the launch of ADVAIT.
  • ADVAIT: Advanced Analytics in Indirect Taxation, a 360-degree taxpayer profiling tool.
• AI/ML, data analytics will play a critical role in achieving this synergy.
• The MoU will enable sharing of specific information such as details of Bill of Entry (Imports), Shipping Bill (Exports) Summary from CBIC and financial statements filed with the Registrar by corporates, returns of allotment of shares.

MCA21 Version 3.0

• MCA21 is an end-to-end holistic e-Governance project which has been running successfully and has enabled the Corporate Affairs Ministry to achieve very high standards of service delivery, besides providing the Government with a comprehensive National Corporate Information Database.
• MCA21 system is also integrated with the registration of EPFO, ESIC, GST, PAN and TAN at the time of incorporation of companies.
• MCA21 Version 3.0 will have additional modules for e-Adjudication, e-Consultation, and Compliance Management.
• The version is envisioned to strengthen enforcement, promote Ease of Doing Business, enhance the user experience, facilitate seamless integration and data exchange among Regulators.
• Aligned with global best practices and aided by emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, MCA21 V3 is envisioned to transform the corporate regulatory environment in India.

India-USA Executive Steering Group (ESG) Meeting

Context: The 24th edition of the India-USA Executive Steering Group (ESG) meeting was held at New Delhi for two days in February 2021.

Details

• The forum is an Army to Army engagement that meets every year alternately in India and the USA to discuss Army to Army cooperation.
• A number of contemporary issues of mutual interests where discussed with an aim to enhance the engagements in diverse fields.
• For the first time the meeting was held both in person and through virtual mode owing to restrictions of COVID-19.

City Innovation Exchange (CiX)

Context: City Innovation Exchange (CiX) launched for fostering innovation in urban ecosystem.

City Innovation Exchange (CiX) Platform

• The City Innovation Exchange (CiX) will connect cities to innovators across the national ecosystem to design innovative solutions for their pressing challenges.
• The platform will ease the discovery, design& validation of solutions through a robust, transparent and user centric process that will reduce barriers for innovators and cities to discover fitting solutions.
• Built on the concept of ‘open innovation’, the platform will help in the flow of ideas ‘outside in and inside out’, enhancing the skills and capacity required to deliver smart urban governance.
• Through interaction with the academia and businesses/startups, the platform will benefit cities in the transfer of ideas from ‘labs’ to the real environment.
• Similarly, by helping urban governments interact with citizens, the platform will ensure adoption of tested solutions that will be impactful and sustainable.
• The Platform has more than 400 start-ups, 100 smart cities, more than 150 challenges statements and over 215 solutions at the time of launch.

Swachh Iconic Places (SIP)

Context: Ministry of Jal Shakti announces selection of 12 sites for transforming them into ‘Swachh Tourist Destinations’ under Phase-IV.

Details

• The Swachch Iconic Places initiative, under the Swachch Bharat Mission, s a special clean-up initiative focused on select iconic heritage, spiritual and cultural places in the country.
• The initiative is coordinated by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation in association with the Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Tourism and the concerned State governments.
• More about the Swachch Iconic Places in the link.
• The Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation has now selected 12 more sites to be included in the SIP programme (phase IV).
• The 12 sites are:
  • Ajanta Caves, Maharashtra
  • Sanchi Stupa, Madhya Pradesh
  • Kumbhalgarh Fort, Rajasthan
  • Jaisalmer Fort, Rajasthan
  • Ramdevra, Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
  • Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, Telangana
  • Sun Temple, Konark, Odisha
  • Rock Garden, Chandigarh
  • Dal Lake, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir
  • Banke Bihari Temple, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh
  • Agra Fort, Agra, Uttar Pradesh
  • Kalighat Temple, West Bengal
• The initiative aims at enhancing the experience of both domestic and foreign visitors by improving the sanitation and cleanliness standards at and around the sites.