PIB Summary- 11th January, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund (PMNRF)

Context: PM approves an ex-gratia of Rs. 2 lakh each from PMNRF for the next of kin of those who have lost their lives due to hospital fire in Maharashtra. 

About PMNRF

• PMNRF was established in 1948 by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru. The initial purpose of the fund was to help people displaced due to the partition of India and Pakistan. 
• The resources of the PMNRF are now utilized primarily to render immediate relief to families of those killed in natural calamities like floods, cyclones and earthquakes, etc. and to the victims of major accidents and riots. 
• Assistance from PMNRF is also rendered, to partially defray the expenses for medical treatment like heart surgeries, kidney transplantation, cancer treatment and acid attack, etc. 
• The fund consists entirely of public contributions and does not get any budgetary support. 
• The corpus of the fund is invested in various forms with scheduled commercial banks and other agencies. 
• Disbursements are made with the approval of the Prime Minister. 
• PMNRF has not been constituted by the Parliament. 
• Prime Minister is the Chairman of PMNRF and is assisted by Officers/Staff on honorary basis. 
• The fund is recognised as a trust under the Income Tax Act and all contributions to the fund are notified for 100% deduction from taxable income under section 80(G) of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

Single Window Clearance Portal of Ministry of Coal

Context: Union Home Minister launches Single Window Clearance Portal of Ministry of Coal. 

Details

• The newly launched portal is a unified platform that facilitates grant of clearances and approvals required for starting a coal mine in India.
• The commercialisation of coal mining was announced in tranche 4 of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. 
• The government had announced that it would remove the government monopoly on coal mining by introducing commercial mining on a revenue sharing basis. 
• The private sector would be allowed to bid for 50 coal blocks. Private players would also be allowed to undertake exploration activities. 
• The commercial coal mining auctions are completely different from the earlier regime of restricted sectors, use and price. Now there are no such restrictions at all. 
• The proposed auctions have terms and conditions which are very liberal allowing new companies to participate in the bidding process, reduced upfront amount, adjustment of upfront amount against royalty, liberal efficiency parameters to encourage flexibility to operationalize the coal mines, transparent bidding process, 100% FDI through automatic route allowed and reasonable financial terms and revenue sharing model based on National Coal Index. 
  • The Coal Ministry is developing a National Coal Index to fix the price of coal for commercial mining, which would include a weighted combination of monthly prices of coal in various channels of transaction. 
• The successful bidders also will have flexibility in coal production unlike in the past and have provision for incentives for early production and coal gasification.

Background

• Currently, about 19 major approval or clearances are required to be obtained before starting a coal mine in the country. 
• Some of them include approval of Mining Plan and Mine Closure Plan, Grant of Mining Lease, Environment and Forest Clearances, Wild Life Clearance, Clearances related to Safety, Environment, Rehabilitation of project affected families, welfare of workers, etc. 
• These approvals or clearances are granted either by central or state governments. 
• In the absence of a unified platform for grant of clearances/approvals for starting of a coal mine, the project proponents are required to approach different administrative ministries and government departments separately to apply for the requisite clearances leading to delay in operationalization of coal mines. 

Now, the complete process shall be facilitated through the Single Window Clearance Portal, which will map not only the relevant application formats, but also process flow for grant of approval or clearances.
Commercial coal mining was announced as part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Auctions were held for the same in June 2020 and it resulted in 19 successful bidders being allotted mines. This is expected to generate more revenue, create additional jobs and also reduce India’s coal imports by 20%. 

Additional information

• The government has created a Rs. 46,000 crore District Mineral Development Fund for people living near the mines, with focus on the development of districts and especially the least developed villages amongst them.

Sea Vigil-21

Context: The second edition of the biennial pan-India coastal defence exercise ‘Sea Vigil-21’ will be conducted for two days in January 2021. 

About Ex Sea Vigil

• The exercise is conducted by the Indian Navy and involves maritime stakeholders, including the Coast Guard, Customs, fisheries, fishing and coastal communities in all the 13 coastal states and UTs of India. 
• The exercise was first held in 2019. 
• It was started after the entire coastal defence set-up of the country was reorganised after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks (launched via the sea route). 
• The exercise is massive in scale and expanse in terms of the stakeholders involved, the objectives to be met and the number of participating units. 
• Ex Sea Vigil is also a build-up towards the major exercise TROPEX which the Navy conducts every two years. 
  • TROPEX: Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise 
  • It is an inter-service military exercise involving the participation of the Indian Army, Air Force, Navy and the Coast Guard. 
• While smaller scale exercises are conducted in coastal states regularly, including combined exercises amongst adjoining states, the conduct of a security exercise at the national-level is aimed to serve a larger purpose. 
• It provides opportunity, at the apex level, to assess the nation’s preparedness in the domain of maritime security and coastal defence. 
• Exercise ‘Sea Vigil 21’ will help provide a realistic assessment of India’s strengths and weaknesses and thus will help in further strengthening maritime and national security.

Prelims Facts

North East Venture Fund (NEVF) 

• It is the first and the only dedicated Venture Fund for the North Eastern Region. 
• The Venture Fund Scheme launched by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) intended to promote growth of business ventures and skill development in the region. 
• The Fund was formed by the Ministry of DoNER and the North Eastern Development Finance Corporation Ltd with an initial corpus of Rs. 100 crores. 
• The fund targets to invest in Start-Ups and unique business opportunities to provide resources for new entrepreneurships. 
• The main focus of North East Venture Fund (NEVF) is for mostly the enterprises involved in Food Processing, Healthcare, Tourism, segregation of services, IT, etc. 
• The investment size with the Venture Fund Scheme ranges between Rs.25 lakhs and Rs. 10 crores with a long term horizon of five to ten years.

Khadi Prakritik Paint

Context: Khadi Prakritik Paint has been launched by Kumarappa National Handmade Paper Institute, Jaipur (a KVIC unit). 

About Khadi Prakritik Paint

• It is an eco-friendly, non-toxic paint with anti-fungal, anti-bacterial properties. Based on cow dung as its main ingredient, the paint is cost-effective and odourless, and has been certified by the Bureau of Indian Standards. 
• The paint is free from heavy metals like lead, mercury, chromium, arsenic, cadmium and others. 
• It will be a boost to local manufacturing and will create sustainable local employment through technology transfer. 
• This technology will increase the consumption of cow dung as a raw material for eco-friendly products and will generate additional revenue to farmers and gaushalas. 
• This is estimated to generate additional income of Rs 30,000 (approx.) per annum per animal to farmers/gaushalas. 
• Utilization of cow dung will also clean the environment and prevent clogging of drains.

Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE)

Context: Environment Minister releases Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of 146 National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries (2018 – 19). 

What is Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE)? 

• MEE is the assessment of how well protected areas such as national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, conservation reserves, community reserves and tiger reserves are being managed and their effectiveness in conserving target flora and fauna. 
• MEE is a global framework to evaluate the performance of protected areas. 
• Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of Protected Areas (PAs) has emerged as a key tool for PA managers and is increasingly being used by governments and international bodies to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the protected area management systems. 

MEE in India 

• India is among the select countries in the world that has institutionalized the MEE process for its network of protected areas. 
• A new framework for MEE of Marine Protected Areas has been also jointly prepared by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and the Environment Ministry and it will be a very useful document to implement. 
• The Ministry has also launched the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Indian Zoos (MEE-ZOO) framework which proposes guidelines, criteria and indicators for evaluation of zoos of the country through Management Effectiveness Evaluation Process (MEE-ZOO) in a manner which is discrete, holistic and independent. 
• The first MEE in India was done in 2006 when the management effectiveness assessment of 28 tiger reserves was carried out. 

Current MEE Report (2018 – 19)

• As per the report, West Bengal’s Jaldapara National Park and Raiganj Wildlife Sanctuary, Himachal Pradesh’s Sainj and Tirthan wildlife sanctuaries as well as the Great Himalayan National Park have been declared as top-five national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in India. 
• Two wildlife sanctuaries in UP – Turtle WLS and Jai Prakash Narayan Bird Sanctuary — and one each in Haryana, Assam and Rajasthan have been listed among the bottom five.

National Energy Conservation Awards

Context: Power Ministry in association with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) organises 30th National Energy Conservation Awards. 

About the National Energy Conservation Awards

• The awards were given away for the first time on December 14, 1991, which was declared as the `National Energy Conservation Day’. 
• They are given to industries and establishments that have taken special efforts to reduce energy consumption while maintaining their production. 
• They are given by the BEE, which is under the Power Ministry, GOI.