PIB Summary- 2nd February, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Chauri Chaura Incident

Context: ‘Chauri Chaura’ Centenary Celebrations.

Details

• February 4th 2021 marks hundred years of the Chauri Chaura incident that had led to Mahatma Gandhi calling off the Non-cooperation Movement.

Chauri Chaura Incident

• The Non-cooperation Movement was going on led by Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
• This was supposed to be a peaceful and non-violent movement wherein people would relinquish their government jobs and titles, stop going to government schools and colleges, not serve in the army and also refuse to pay taxes as an extreme measure.
• Launched in August 1920, it was aimed at attaining Swaraj or self-rule.
• The people readily participated in the movement and it saw partial success at least in the participation level.
• On 4th February 1922, about 2500 people marched towards the Chauri Chaura market (Gorakhpur, UP) in order to picket a shop selling liquor.
• One of their leaders was arrested. A group of people then marched towards the police station demanding the release of the arrested leader.
• The police fired shots in the air hoping to disperse the crowd. However, the crowd became agitated and started pelting stones at the police.
• Things were getting out of hand and the sub-inspector at the station came forward and fired at the crowd killing three people. This incensed the people who then charged at the policemen who were heavily outnumbered. The police station was set ablaze by the people and all the policemen and officials inside were charred to death.
• Gandhi went on a fast for five days after the incident for his ‘role’ in the event. He withdrew the movement on 12 February officially since he felt that the people were not ready to take up a non-violent movement. He also felt that adequate training was not provided to the people to show restraint in the face of violent attacks.

National Medicinal Plants Board

Context: The National Medicinal Plants Bard (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH, under its Central Sector Scheme on ‘Conservation, Development and Sustainable Management of Medicinal Plants’ is supporting research & development projects on various aspects of medicinal plants to government as well as private universities/research institutions/organizations across the country.

Overview of the National Medicinal Plants Board

The National Medicinal Plants Board was established by the Government of India in 24th November 2000. Its mandate is to promote the medicinal plant’s sector by developing a suitable mechanism which will support policies and programs for the cultivation and export of medicinal plants.
The growing demand for medicinal plants is met by the NMBP’s focus on conservation and augmentation of local medicinal plants and spices of significance. The NMPB encourages research and development, capacity building through training and promotion of actives such as the creation of herbal gardens at the home and school levels. The board also supports programs for quality assurance, which institute a credible mechanism for the certification of quality raw drugs, seed and planting material.

Functions of the NMBP
The functions of the National Medicinal Plant Board:

• The functions of the National Medicinal Plants Board is as follows:
• Advise concerned Ministries and State/ Union Territory Governments on policy matters relating to schemes and programs for the development of medicinal plants.
• Identification, Inventorisation and Quantification of medicinal plants.
• Promotion of co-operative efforts among collectors and growers and assisting them to store, transport and market their products effectively.
• Setting up of data-base system for incentivisation, dissemination of information and facilitating the prevention of Patents being obtained for medicinal use of plants which is in the public domain.
• Undertaking and awarding Scientific, Technological research and cost-effectiveness studies.
• Development of protocols for cultivation and quality control.
• Encouraging the protection of Intellectual Property Rights.

Centres of Excellence (CoE) Scheme of the Ayush Ministry

What is the scheme?

• Under the CoE Scheme of the Ministry of AYUSH, support is provided to reputed AYUSH institutions for upgrading their functions and facilities to levels of excellence.
• The Centres of Excellence selected under this Scheme are the institutions that are engaged in activities like Clinical Research, AYUSH Healthcare (hospitals), Research based on the fundamentals of AYUSH, inter-disciplinary research in areas like pharmacognosy and pharmacology, product development and bridging AYUSH and modern science.

Agri India Hackathon (Kritagya Hackathon)

Context: The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has started organising KRITAGYA – a national level hackathon in August 2020 to promote innovation in agriculture and allied sectors in the country.

About the Hackathon

• The Kritagya Ag-Tech Hackathon has been planned by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) under the National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP).
• It aims to promote potential technology solutions for enhancing farm mechanization with special emphasis on women-friendly equipment.
• Students, faculties and innovators/entrepreneurs from any university/technical institution across the country can apply and participate in the event in the form of a group.
• They can propose solutions for farm mechanization.
• Participating students can collaborate with local start-ups, students from technology institutes, and can win Rs. 5 lakhs, Rs 3 lakhs and Rs. 1 lakh as first, second and third prize.
• KRITAGYA is an acronym for KRI for Krishi (Agriculture), TA for Taknik (Technology) and GYA for Gyan (Knowledge).
• The development and promotion of women-friendly equipment through innovative technology solutions and right collaborations with stakeholders would play an important role in enhancing farm productivity and profitability.

The ICAR commenced NAHEP, a Government of India and World Bank project, in November 2017 with the overall objective to support the National Agricultural Research and Education System in providing more relevant and better quality education to students.

ATMA Scheme

What is the ATMA Scheme?

• A Centrally Sponsored Scheme “Support to State Extension Programs for Extension Reforms”, popularly known as ATMA Scheme, is under implementation since 2005.
• ATMA stands for Agricultural Technology Management Agency.
• It is being implemented in 691 districts of 28 states & 5 UTs in the country.
• The scheme promotes decentralized farmer-friendly extension system in the country.
• Under the scheme, grants-in-aid are released to the State Governments with an objective to support State Government’s efforts to make available the latest agricultural technologies and good agricultural practices in different thematic areas of agriculture and allied areas to farmers.
• Scheme objective: The scheme aims at making extension system farmer driven and farmer accountable by way of new institutional arrangements for technology dissemination in the form of an Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) at district level to operationalize the extension reforms.
• ATMA has active participation of farmers/farmer-groups, NGOs, Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs), Panchayati Raj Institutions and other stakeholders operating at district level and below.
• Release of funds under ATMA scheme is based on State Extension Work Plans (SEWPs) prepared by the State Governments.

One Nation One Ration Card Scheme (ONORC)

Context: The ONORC scheme is being implemented in the country for nation-wide portability of ration cards under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA). So far, the facility has been enabled in 32 States/UTs covering nearly 69 Crore beneficiaries, almost 86% of NFSA population of the country.

What is One Nation One Ration Card?

It is a national ration card that will enable migrant workers and their families to access the public distribution system (PDS) benefits from any fair price shops across the country.

The characteristics of the ONORC are:

• Existing ration cards will be turned as one nation one ration card.
• It will be a universal ration card allotted to each beneficiary registered under NFSA.
• Using the ONORC, a beneficiary who migrates from one place to another can buy subsidized food grains from the fair price shop located in the destination city regardless of the origin of the beneficiaries.
• The beneficiaries will be identified through biometric authentication on electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices. These devices will be installed at each fair price shop.
• The national portability will work using the:
  • Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS) portal – It will provide the technological platform for the ration cards portability.
  • Annavitran portal – It will host the data of the food grains distribution through ePoS devices within a state. This will help a beneficiary to access subsidized food grains within a state (inter-district.)
• Aadhar Cards will be seeded with ration cards which will help beneficiaries get the ration using the same ration card.

Objectives of One Nation One Ration Card Scheme
In simple words, the ONORC will bring the following changes:

• Reforms in the public distribution system.
• Access of food grains to each beneficiary.
• Integrating all the Indian states and UTs in the scheme by March 2021.

Salient Features of One Nation One Ration Card Scheme

• It is being implemented under the Integrated Management of PDS (IMPDS.)
• 65 crores beneficiaries are being covered under the ONORC scheme.
• 80 percent of beneficiaries registered under NFSA has been covered under the scheme.
• 25 states and UTs have been integrated into the scheme.
• 81 crores beneficiaries are reported to get the benefits of this scheme once all states/UTs will be integrated under the scheme.
• The government will come up with a helpline number to assist beneficiaries.

Benefits of the ONORC
The major benefit of the One Nation One Ration Card is as follows:

• Those agile of the ONORC will receive subsidised food grain from any Fair Price Shop in the country, immensely benefitting migrants staying in different parts of the country.
• With the ONORC, all the beneficiaries in one state can get the same fair rations in other states where the ration card was issued.
• In case of any foul play, a beneficiary can switch to an alternative FPS almost immediately.
• The scheme will be of benefit to women and other poorer sections of the society since social identity will be a strong factor in accessing PDS.
• The ONORC will help in achieving the target of eliminating hunger by 2030, given the fact that it has been ranked 102 out of 17 in the Global Hunger Index.

Challenges regarding the Implementation of the One Nation One Ration Card

• Exclusion Error: Once the PDS processes have been digitised through smart cards and Aadhar linking then leakages could be reduced, but there have been exclusion errors post Aadhar linking as of late.
• Lack of Data: There is a shortage of data on the population moving to other cities to work. As such it becomes a difficult task in identifying the beneficiaries as they move to different locations.

Domicile-Based Social Sector Schemes: Along with the PDS most of the welfare schemes and food security measures were based on historic domicile-based access and restricted welfare and entitlements at their places of origin, thus negating any chance of non-native population from accessing such benefits.

Aero India 2021

Context: Curtain Raiser of Aero India 2021.

Details

• The Aero India 2021 event kicked off on 2 February.

About Aero India Show

• The Aero India exhibition is organized every alternate year.
• It is a major exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries with a public air show.
• It enables industry professionals to gain market insights, announce new developments and gain media coverage.
• Aero India offers a unique platform to the international aviation sector to bolster business.
• Aero India 2021 is the 13th edition of Aero India being organised at Bengaluru, Karnataka in February 2021.
• Aero India 2021 provides an opportunity to demonstrate products to potential customers and investors.
• Aero India shows are organised by the Department of Defence Production, Defence Ministry.
• The theme of Aero India 2021 is ‘The runway to a billion opportunities’.

Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)

Context: The Government of Andhra Pradesh has informed that it has seized 435.80 MTs of Rice worth Rs. 1,08,95,000/- which was intended for the Public Distribution System (PDS) but was being exported illegally.

Steps taken by the Dept. of Food & Public Distribution to bring transparency and efficiency in the functioning of TPDS:

• The Department in association with all States/UTs had implemented a scheme on ‘End-to-End Computerization of TPDS Operations’, which inter-alia comprised:
  • Digitization of ration cards/beneficiaries’ data
  • Installation of electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices at all Fair Price Shops (FPSs)
• This was implemented for the transparent distribution of food grains to all beneficiaries under the NFSA.
• As part of these activities, 100% digitization of NFSA ration cards has been achieved in all States/UTs.
• Aadhaar seeding of almost 91% ration cards at the national level has been achieved so far.
• Besides, almost 92% of the total 5.4 Lakh FPSs in the country are distributing food grains through ePoS devices.
• At the national level, more than 70% of the monthly allocated food grains to States/UTs are being distributed to NFSA beneficiaries after their biometric authentication on ePoS devices.

World Wetlands Day

Context: World Wetlands Day is observed on 1 February every year.

About the World Wetlands Day

• 2 February each year is celebrated ‘World Wetlands Day’ to raise global awareness about the vital role of wetlands for people and our planet.
• This day also marks the date of the adoption of the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of the Caspian Sea.
• The annual celebration of the Day started in 1997.
• The theme for World Wetlands Day 2021 is ‘Wetlands and Water’.
• The 2021 campaign highlights the contribution of wetlands to the quantity and quality of freshwater on our planet. Water and wetlands are connected in an inseparable co-existence that is vital to life, our wellbeing and the health of our planet.
• 2021 also marks the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Ramsar Convention.

What are wetlands?

• Wetlands are land areas that are saturated or flooded with water either permanently or seasonally.
• Inland wetlands include marshes, ponds, lakes, fens, rivers, floodplains, and swamps. Coastal wetlands include saltwater marshes, estuaries, mangroves, lagoons and even coral reefs.
• Fishponds, rice paddies, and saltpans are human-made wetlands.

Wetlands in India

• India has nearly 4.6% of its land as wetlands, covering an area of 15.26 million hectares.
• There are 42 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar Sites), with a surface area of 1.08 million hectares in India. Get the list of Ramsar sites in India here.

Centre for Wetland Conservation and Management (CWCM)

• On the occasion of World Wetlands Day 2021, the MoS for Environment announced the establishment of a Centre for Wetland Conservation and Management (CWCM), as a part of the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management (NCSCM), Chennai, an institution under the Ministry.
• The Centre will help in building partnership and networks with relevant national and international agencies.
• WCM would serve as a knowledge hub and enable exchange between State/UT Wetland Authorities, wetland users, managers, researchers, policy-makers and practitioners.

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY)

Context: Amalgamation of Ayushman Bharat Yojana with State Health Schemes.

Details

• States/UTs implementing AB-PMJAY have the flexibility to run their own Health Protection Schemes in alliance with AB-PMJAY at their own cost.
• Under this arrangement, the States/UTs may use Health Benefit Packages, common IT platform and empaneled hospital network of PMJAY.

Ayushman Bharat Programme

The Ayushman Bharat programme was launched in 2018 to address health issues at all levels – primary, secondary, and tertiary. It has two components:

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), earlier known as the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS)
• Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)

Ayushman Bharat is an integrated approach comprising health insurance and primary, secondary and tertiary healthcare. The HWCs are aimed at improving access to cheap and quality healthcare services at the primary level. PM-JAY will cover the financial protection for availing healthcare services at the secondary and tertiary levels.
Ayushman Bharat is the largest government-funded healthcare programme in the world with over 50 crore beneficiaries. It has been dubbed ‘Modicare’.

Need for Ayushman Bharat

• The 71st round of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) revealed many grim numbers about the country’s healthcare system.
  • About 86% of rural households and 82% of urban households do not have access to healthcare insurance.
  • Over 17% of the country’s population spend a minimum of 1/10th of their household budgets on availing health services.
  • Unexpected and serious healthcare problems often lead families to debt.
  • Over 19% and over 24% of the urban and rural households respectively meet their healthcare financial needs through borrowings.
• To address these grave concerns, the government, under the National Health Policy 2017, launched the Ayushman Bharat programme along with its two sub-missions, PMJAY and HWCs.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)
PMJAY is one of India’s most ambitious health sector schemes.

• It was launched as the National Health Protection Mission and renamed later.
• It is the largest government-funded health insurance scheme in the world.
• The scheme offers eligible families an insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakh per annum per family.
• This amount is intended to cover all secondary and most tertiary care expenditures incurred.
• There is no cap on family size and age under the scheme, to ensure that nobody is left behind.
• The cover will include pre and post-hospitalization expenses. It will also cover all pre-existing conditions.
  • 3 days of pre-hospitalization and 15 days of post-hospitalization like medicines and diagnostics are covered.
• Components of treatment covered under the scheme:
  • Medical examination, consultation, and treatment
  • Medical consumables and medicines
  • Intensive and non-intensive care services
  • Medical implant services
  • Lab and diagnostic investigations
  • Complications arising out of treatment
  • Accommodation benefits and food services
• The beneficiary will also receive a defined transport allowance per hospital.
• The beneficiaries can take cashless treatment from any empanelled hospital anywhere in the country. This includes both public and private hospitals. By default, all government hospitals in the states that are implementing the scheme will be empanelled.

PM-JAY Eligibility Criteria

PM-JAY is an entitlement-based scheme. The eligible families are fixed based on the deprivation criterion in the Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) database.
The detailed categories in both urban and rural areas are given below:

• Families with only 1 room with kutcha roof and walls.
• Families with no adult members between the ages of 16 and 59.
• Households headed by females with no male adult members between the ages of 16 and 59.
• Families with disabled members and no adult able-bodied members.
• SC/ST households.
• Landless households that derive a major chunk of their income from manual casual labour.
• Rural area families with anyone of the following:
  • Households with no shelter
  • Destitutes
  • Living on alms
  • Manual scavenging
  • Primitive tribal groups
  • Legally released bonded labourer
• In the urban areas, 11 occupational categories are eligible for the scheme:
  • Beggar/Ragpicker/Domestic worker
  • Street vendor/hawker/cobbler/Other service provider working on the streets
  • Construction worker/Plumber/Mason/Labourer
  • Painter/Welder/Security guard
  • Coolie and other head-load worker
  • Sweeper/sanitation worker
  • Mali/home-based worker
  • Artisan/handicrafts worker/Tailor 
  • Transport worker/driver/conductor/helper to driver and conductor/Cart puller/rikshaw puller
  • Shop worker/assistant/Peon in small establishment/Helper/delivery assistant/Attendant/waiter
  • Electrician/Mechanic/assembler/repair worker/Washerman/Chowkidar
• According to the data in the SECC 2011, certain beneficiaries are excluded. They include households with a motorized vehicle, fishing boat, that pay income tax/professional tax, with a refrigerator, landline phone, an earning member who earns more than Rs.10000 per month, owns land above a certain limit, government servants, etc.

PM-JAY Benefits
PM-JAY is a visionary scheme that aims at the fulfilment of the concept of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It offers many benefits, which are discussed below.

• It will reduce medical expenditure for many families, which is currently, mostly out-of-the-pocket expense. Eligible families can avail of quality medical services without getting into debt.
• The insurance cover provided by this scheme includes items that are generally excluded from standard medi-claims (for example, pre-existing conditions, internal congenital diseases, and mental health conditions).
• The scheme requires hospitals to maintain a certain minimum standard.
• Insurers and third-party administrators will have access to the large new market that opens up because of the scheme.
• The scheme has the potential to initiate wide reforms in India’s healthcare system.
• After one year of the scheme’s beginning, beneficiary families are said to have saved over Rs.13000 crores.
• Over 60% of the treatments have been done by private hospitals. The private sector has played an active role in this scheme and they have also benefitted from it. In many tier II and III cities, private hospitals have observed increased footfall. 
• Economically weaker sections of society can have access to quality healthcare services without financial hardships.
• The scheme has also resulted in the creation of more jobs. In 2018, it generated more than 50000 jobs. This number is expected to increase as the government is planning to build 1.5 lakh HWCs by 2022.
  • 90% of the jobs are in the health sector and the remaining in allied sectors like insurance.
• The scheme is supported by a robust IT framework.
  • IT supports beneficiary identification, maintaining treatment records, processes claims, addresses grievances, etc.
  • There is fraud detection, prevention, and control system at both the central and state levels, which is critical for preventing fraud.

PM-JAY Criticisms
There are certain criticisms and challenges in the implementation of PM-JAY. They are briefly described below.

• There has been a criticism that while the allocation of funds for PM-JAY has increased exponentially, the fund for the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has gone up only by 2%. So, the scheme has been eating into the funds for NRHM.
• Under this scheme, the private sector has been given a large role in offering primary health care to the people. This has been protested by many people in various states, as regulation of the private sector is marginal.
• There is a shortfall of healthcare professionals and personnel needed to implement a vast scheme as this.
• There is also a problem of infrastructure as many primary healthcare centres run without even the basic facilities such as electricity, regular water supply, etc.
• The scheme excludes those economically weaker sections that fall under the organized sector and have no access to health insurance.

Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs)
HWCs are being created by converting the existing primary health centres and subcentres. They provide comprehensive primary health care (CPHC) including a child and maternal health services, non-communicable diseases, and also diagnostic services, and free essential drugs.

Services offered by HWCs:

• Care in pregnancy and child-birth.
• Neonatal and infant health care services.
• Childhood and adolescent health care services.
• Family planning, Contraceptive services and other Reproductive Health Care services.
• Management of Communicable diseases including National Health Programmes.
• Management of Common Communicable Diseases and Outpatient care for acute simple illnesses and minor ailments.
• Screening, Prevention, Control and Management of Non-Communicable diseases.
• Care for Common Ophthalmic and ENT problems.
• Basic Oral health care.
• Elderly and Palliative health care services.
• Emergency Medical Services.
• Screening and Basic management of Mental health ailments. 

HWCs are important because they offer CPHC that is critical to enhancing health outcomes. Primary healthcare plays a vital role in preventing many disease conditions. Providing CPHC decreases morbidity and mortality at a lower cost and greatly reduces the requirement for secondary and tertiary care.

TARA Scheme

What is the Scheme?

• Technological Advancement for Rural Areas (TARA) Scheme is implemented by the Science for Equity, Empowerment & Development (SEED) Division, Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India.
• The scheme provides long term Core Support to Science and Technology (S&T) based NGOs to promote and nurture them as “S&T Incubators”/“Active Field Laboratories” in rural and other disadvantaged areas to work and provide technological solutions and effective delivery of technologies for livelihood generation & societal benefits.
• It focuses on innovation, long-term action, replicability and enterprise models, shift to non-farm and service sectors, etc.
• If a project is approved, core funding is provided for five to ten years which may be extended to 15 years.

Dudhwa Tiger Reserve

About the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve

• It is a protected area in Uttar Pradesh that stretches mainly across the Lakhimpur Kheri and Bahraich districts and comprises the Dudhwa National Park, Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary.
• It shares the north-eastern boundary with Nepal.
• The area is a vast alluvial floodplain traversed by numerous rivers and streams flowing in south-easterly direction.
• In 1987, the Dudhwa National Park and the Kishanpur Wildlife Sanctuary were brought under the purview of the ‘Project Tiger’ as Dudhwa Tiger Reserve. The Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary was added in the year 2000.
• The protected area is home for tigers, leopards, Asiatic black bears, sloth bears, Swamp deer, rhinoceros, elephants, cheetal, hog deer, barking deer, sambar, wild boar and hispid hare.