PIB Summary- 20th January, 2023 | Current Affairs & Hindu Analysis: Daily, Weekly & Monthly - UPSC PDF Download

National Disaster Response Force (NDRF)

Why in News?
The Prime Minister has greeted the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team on their Raising Day.

About NDRF

• The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is an Indian specialized force constituted “for the purpose of special response to a threatening disaster situation or disaster” under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
• The “Apex Body for Disaster Management” in India is the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
• The Chairman of the NDMA is the Prime Minister.
• The responsibility of managing disasters in India is that of the State Government.
• National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is under the National Disaster Management Authority.
• Headquarter of NDRF located in Delhi.
• The head of the NDRF is designated as Director General.
• The Director Generals of NDRF are IPS officers on deputation from Indian police organisations.
• The NDRF is a top-heavy organisation which in addition to the Director General has several Inspector Generals (IG) and Deputy IGs, who fly flags and wear army-style badges of rank.
• National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is a force of 12 battalions, organised on para-military lines, and manned by persons on deputation from the para-military forces of India.
• These NDRF battalions are located at twelve different locations in the country based on the vulnerability profile to cut down the response time for their deployment.

About NDRF Functions

• The aim of the National Disaster Management Authority is to build a safer and disaster resilient India by developing a holistic, proactive, multi-disaster and technology driven strategy for disaster management.
• This has to be achieved through a culture of prevention, mitigation and preparedness to generate a prompt and efficient response at the time of disasters.
• This national vision inter alia, aims at inculcating a culture of preparedness among all stakeholders.
• NDRF has proved its importance in achieving this vision by highly skilled rescue and relief operations, regular and intensive training and re-training, familiarization exercises within the area of responsibility of respective NDRF Battalions, carrying out mock drills and joint exercises with the various stakeholders.
• In addition to this, there are four battalions capable of handling as follows;-
  • Biological, 
  • Radiological, 
  • Nuclear and 
  • Chemical disasters. 

Annual Status of Education Report (ASER)

Why in News?
The ASER Report 2022 released recently revealed that almost all (98.4%) students in the age bracket of 6-14 years are now enrolled in schools.

ASER Survey

• A citizen-led household survey that provides estimates of the enrolment status and basic reading and arithmetic levels of children aged 3-16 at the national, state, and district level.
• Conducted by NGO Pratham every year since 2005.
• Reaches children in the age group of 3-16 in almost all rural districts of India.
• Uses household rather than school-based sampling.

Highlights of ASER 2022

• In ASER 2022 Survey, 7 lakh candidates from 19,060 schools in 616 districts were surveyed to calculate the learning outcomes post-pandemic on school children.
• Enrollment has gone from 97.2 per cent in 2018 to 98.4 per cent in 2022.
• As many as 72.9 per cent of the surveyed students go to government schools.
• In only three states, the number of girls not going to school is above 10% – Madhya Pradesh (17%), Uttar Pradesh (15%), and Chhattisgarh (11.2%).
• Nationally, children’s basic reading ability has dropped to pre-2012 levels, reversing the slow improvement achieved in the intervening years.
• In both government and private schools, only 20.5% students of Class 3 can read, compared to 27.3% in 2018.
• The proportion of Class 5 students who can read has dropped to 42.8% in 2022, compared to 50.5% in 2018.

Atal Bhujal Yojana

Why in News?
Recently, The third meeting of the National Level Steering Committee (NLSC) of the Atal Bhujal Yojana was held at New Delhi

About Atal Bhujal Yojana

• The Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) is a central sector scheme worth Rs.6,000 crore for sustainable management of groundwater with community participation.
• It envisages people’s participation through the formation of ‘Water User Associations’, water budgeting, preparation & implementation of Gram-panchayat-wise water security plans, etc.
• It is being implemented by the Ministry of Jal Shakti 
• The scheme is being funded by the Government of India and the World Bank on 50:50 basis.
• The identified over-exploited and water-stressed areas for the implementation of the scheme are Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh.
• The States have been selected according to the degree of groundwater exploitation and degradation, established legal and regulatory instruments, institutional readiness, and experience in implementing initiatives related to groundwater management.

Significance of the scheme

• Ground water contributes to nearly 65% of total irrigated area of the country
• Groundwater contributes to nearly 85% of the rural drinking water supply.
• Increasing demands of growing population, urbanization and industrialization, deteriorating quality, intensive and unregulated pumping are a major threat to the Ground Water resources.
• 81.67% of rural households are yet to have household water tap connections.

Aims of the scheme

• To facilitate the Jal Jeevan Mission’s (JJM) aim provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024.
• To improve ground water management through community participation in identified priority areas in Seven States.
• To promote panchayat led ground water management and behavioural change with primary focus on demand side management.

Implementation of the scheme

• The scheme is to be implemented in the identified priority areas of the 7 states of Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
• The scheme is to be implemented over a period of 5 years (2020-21 to 2024-25).