PIB Summary- 2nd September, 2022 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

G20 Education Ministers’ Meeting in Bali

Why in news?
Union Education and Skill Development Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan addresses the G20 Education Ministers’ Meeting in Bali today.
He as a troika co-chair delivered the opening remarks at the G-20 Education Ministers’ Meeting
Theme: ‘Recovery, Re-imagine and Rebuild Stronger.’
Significance: India emphasised about the importance of sharing mutual experiences & working together to create a new world in which education remains the nodal point for addressing common challenges.

About G20

• The G20 is an informal group of 19 countries and the European Union, with representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
• The G20 membership comprises a mix of the world’s largest advanced and emerging economies, representing about two-thirds of the world’s population, 85% of global gross domestic product, 80% of global investment, over 75% of global trade and roughly half the world’s land area.
• The members of the G20 are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, and the European Union.
• Spain as a permanent, non-member invitee, also attends leader summits.
• India will hold the Presidency of the G20 from 1 December 2022 to 30 November 2023, culminating with the G20 Summit in India in 2023.

Structure and functioning of G20

• The G20 Presidency rotates annually according to a system that ensures a regional balance over time.
• For the selection of presidency, the 19 countries are divided into 5 groups, each having no more than 4 countries. The presidency rotates between each group.
• Every year the G20 selects a country from another group to be president.
• India is in Group 2 which also has Russia, South Africa and Turkey.
• The G20 does not have a permanent secretariat or Headquarters.
• The work of G20 is divided into two tracks:
  • The Finance track comprises all meetings with G20 finance ministers and central bank governors and their deputies. Meeting several times throughout the year they focus on monetary and fiscal issues, financial regulations, etc.
  • The Sherpa track focuses on broader issues such as political engagement, anti-corruption, development, energy, etc.
• Since 2008, the group convenes at least once a year, with the summits involving each member’s head of government.

“CAPF eAWAS” Web Portal Launched

Why in news?
Union Home and Cooperation Minister, Shri Amit Shah launched the “CAPF e-AWAS” web portal in New Delhi today.

Significance

• The Union Home Minister said a system had been created in the CAPFs under which only personnel of the Force for which houses had been constructed could be allotted these houses.
  • This had left many thousands of houses vacant.
  • This has now been changed through the e-Awas portal and houses lying vacant will also be available for personnel of other CAPFs.
• Housing Satisfaction Ratio (HSR) was around 33 per cent in 2014, which is 48 per cent today, launch of CAPF e-Awas portal will increase HSR by 13 per cent without construction of new buildings. It is projected that the HSR will be 73% by November 2024.
• Various other schemes have been launched to  increase the Housing Satisfaction Ratio. These include building offices, strengthening hospitals and increasing the number of residences.

Other initiatives

• ‘Ayushman CAPF’: This scheme will provide better medical facilities to families of Jawans, under which more than 35 lakh Ayushman Cards have been distributed to 10 lakh personnel.
  • Under this scheme, about 56,000 bills worth more than Rs. 31 crore have been paid so far.
• e-Transfer Software has been created to bring transparency in transfer of CAPF personnel.

Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF)

• The Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) comprises five Armed forces of the Union of India under the authority of the Ministry of Home Affairs.
• The 5 forces of CAPF are:
• Border Security Force (BSF),
• Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF),
• Central Industrial Security Force (CISF),
• Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the
• Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
• Apart from the primary role, all CAPFs are involved in assisting Police in Law & Order situations and also Army in Counter-Terrorist Operations. BSF & CRPF have assisted the army during external aggression in the past.
• Central Armed Police Forces personnel also serve in various important organisations such as Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Special Protection Group (SPG), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Intelligence Bureau (IB), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) etc.