daily current capsules – 20 february...
TRANSCRIPT
Daily Current Capsules – 20th February 2020
Social Justice
India is the World’s First Country with 100 %
digital process for Haj 2020(Ease of Doing Haj)
Relevance IN – Prelims ( factual info about Haj process + about e-Masiha app)
+ Mains ( GS II Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by
the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws,
institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these
vulnerable sections.
What’s the NEWS
100 per cent digital/online Haj process in India has fulfilled the dream of
“Ease of Doing Haj” for the Indian Muslims.
Know! the steps taken by the Ministry for the ease of doing Haj
The entire Haj process has been made digital and transparent and this has
removed the middlemen ensuring Haj pilgrimage become affordable in
comparison to last several decades.
Even after removal of Haj subsidy, no additional financial burden has
been put on the pilgrims India has become the first country in the entire world which has made the
entire Haj 2020 process 100 per cent digital.
Online application, E-Visa, Haj mobile app, “E-MASIHA” health facility,
“E-luggage pre-tagging” providing all information in India itself regarding
accommodation/transportation in Makkah-Madinah have been provided to
Indian Muslims going for Haj.
E-MASIHA (E-Medical Assistance System for Indian Pilgrims Abroad)
An online system to create and maintain the complete health database of
Indian pilgrims along with doctors’ prescriptions, medical treatment as
well as medicine disbursals, has been developed to deal any emergency in
Makkah-Madinah
Haj Group Organisers (HGOs)
Haj Group Organisers (HGOs) have also been connected with 100 per
cent digital system which has ensured transparency in their functioning
and it has also ensured better facilities to Indian Haj pilgrims.
For the first time, a portal of HGOs - http://haj.nic.in/pto/ (Portal for Haj
Group Organisers) has been developed which contains all the details of
HGOs, their packages etc. In 2020, a total of 2 lakh Indian Muslims will perform Haj that too
without any subsidy and about 1 lakh 23,000 Indians Muslims will go
through Haj Committee of India and remaining through Haj Group
Organisers.
This year more than 2100 Muslim women will go to Haj without
“Mehram” (male companion)
International Organisations/Conventions
3rd High Level Global Conference on Road Safety
Relevance IN – Prelims ( about the 3rd high level global conference on road
safety + about Brasilia Declaration) + Mains (GS II Government policies and
interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of
their design and implementation)
What’s the NEWS
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari reached
Stockholm to represent India at the 3rd High Level Global
Conference on Road Safety for Achieving Global Goals 2030.
Know! more about the Conference
The objective of the two-day conference is to bring road safety on
the global agenda and renew the world community’s commitment to
safer roads.
Leaders from participating countries will draw up a road-map for
reaching the United Nation’s goal set under the UN Decade of
Action of reducing road crashes by 2030.
The conference is being organised in active collaboration with
World Bank, World Health Organisation and other agencies
Know! about Brasilia Declaration
The 2nd Global High-Level Conference on Road Safety Hosted by the
Government of Brazil on 18-19 November 2015 in Brasilia, Brazil,
and co-sponsored by WHO, adopted the “Brasilia Declaration on Road
Safety” and declared Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.
They agreed ways to halve road traffic deaths by the end of this decade
– a key milestone within the new Sustainable Development Goal
(SDG) target 3.6.
The Brasilia Declaration is a call to rethink transport policies in order
to favour more sustainable modes of transport such as walking, cycling
and using public transport.
India had signed the Brasilia Declaration at the 2nd High Level
Global Conference on Traffic Safety Brazil in 2015 which
committed the world community to reducing the number of deaths in
road accidents.
Miscellaneous
Government unveils plan for research on ‘indigenous’ cows
Scientific research will be carried out on milk and milk products derived from Indian indigenous cows. File
Relevance IN – Prelims ( about SUTRA PIC and about SVAROP)
What’s the NEWS
The government has unveiled a programme to research on
‘indigenous’ cows.
To be funded by multiple scientific ministries, the initiative, SUTRA
PIC, is led by the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
It has the Department of Biotechnology, the Council of Scientific and
Industrial Research, the Ministry for AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani,
Siddha, Homoeopathy) among others and the Indian Council of
Medical Research as partners.
The Science for Equity, Empowerment and Development (SEED), is
the department in charge of the programme.
Know! more about SUTRA PIC
SUTRA PIC or Scientific Utilisation Through Research Augmentation-
Prime Products from Indigenous Cows, has five themes:
1. Uniqueness of Indigenous Cows
2. Prime-products from Indigenous Cows for Medicine and Health
3. Prime-products from Indigenous Cows for Agricultural Applications
4. Prime-products from Indigenous Cows for Food and Nutrition
5. Prime-products from indigenous cows-based utility items
Objectives of the programme.
scientific research on complete characterisation of milk and milk
products derived from Indian indigenous cows
scientific research on nutritional and therapeutic properties of curd
and ghee prepared from indigenous breeds of cows by traditional
methods
development of standards for traditionally processed dairy products
of Indian-origin cow
Earlier Researches
In 2017, SEED constituted a National Steering Committee (NSC) for
‘Scientific Validation and Research on Panchgavya (SVAROP)’.
Panchagavya is an Ayurvedic panacea and is a mixture of five
(pancha) products of the cow (gavya) — milk, curd, ghee, dung and
urine. Its proponents believe it can cure, or treat a wide range of
ailments.
Science and Technology
17th Edition of BioAsia 2020
Relevance IN – Prelims ( about BioAsia 2020 and its objective) + Mains ( GS III
Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-
technology)
What’s the NEWS
Telangana is all set to host the three-day Bio Asia 2020, Asia’s largest
Biotechnology and Life Sciences Forum with the theme of ‘Today for
Tomorrow’ from February 17 in Hyderabad.
Know! more about BioAsia 2020
About 2,000 delegates from 37 countries will be attending the annual
flagship event of Government of Telangana
BioAsia has been playing a key role in bringing together the global industry
leaders, researchers, policymakers, innovators, and investors together on
one platform discussing the new opportunities and developing strategies to
succeed.
Genome Valley, India’s first and only systematically developed R&D and
clean manufacturing ecosystem, has become the largest innovation and life
sciences cluster in Asia.
Switzerland will be the partner Country this year as part of the annual
tradition.
BioAsia 2020 is being organized in partnership with Government of
India, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, Ministry
of MSME, Department of Biotechnology, Department of Pharmaceuticals
and it has state partners include Assam, Kerala, Odisha and Gujarat.
Genome Valley Excellence Award 2020
Genome Valley Excellence Award was constituted in 2004 to recognize
and honour eminent individuals and organizations for their exceptional
contribution to the Life Sciences research and public health.
The Government of Telangana presents this special award to eminent
leaders every year after a careful examination and technical consideration
by the reputed jury committee appointed by it.
e-Governance
National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) 2019
Relevance IN – Prelims ( about National Conference on e-Governance and
NeSDA) + Mains ( GS II Important aspects of governance, transparency and
accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and
potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and
other measures.
What’s the NEWS
23rd edition of National Conference on e-Governance 2020 based on
the theme “India 2020: Digital Transformation” with 6-sub themes
The six sub-themes of the conference include:
(i) Digital Platforms and Digital Economy
(ii) Improving Service Delivery
(iii) Building Digital Trust – Transparency, Security and Privacy
(iv) Digital Payments and Fintech
(v) National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA)/
Digital Service Standard (DSS)
(vi) Skilling and Capacity Building
Know! about NeSDA
NeSDA was a key initiative announced by Prime Minister Narendra
Modi in 2018 to push the government machinery towards his promise of
‘minimum government, maximum governance’.
It is also aimed at pushing up India’s overall performance on the global e-
governance index, an important parameter to attract investment.
India was ranked 96 among 193 countries in the United Nations E-
Government Survey of 2018.
While this was an improvement over the 118 rank in 2014 and the 107
position in 2016, more effort is clearly needed.
The NeSDAframework is a step in that direction to nudge states and
government interfaces to become more people -friendly.
Know! more about the assessment
The assessment was aimed at improving the overall e-Government
development by evaluating the efficiency of service delivery mechanism
from a citizen’s perspective.
The assessment is done broadly for four categories – Union territories,
remaining states, union territories and central government ministries
websites
Know! more about the conference
The conference, is being jointly organised by the Department of
Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government
of Maharashtra and the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology
The index has been prepared by the Department of Administrative
Reforms and Public Grievances(DARPG) with NASSCOM as the
designated knowledge partner.
The NeSDA framework
The NeSDA framework primarily assessed all the service portals
(state/UT and central ministry service portals) on seven key parameters,
namely accessibility, content availability, ease of use, information
security & privacy, end service delivery, integrated service delivery and
status & request tracking.
The framework covers six sectors, namely finance, labour &
employment, education, local government & utilities, social welfare
(including agriculture & health) and environment (including fire) sectors.
Know! the Ranking
Kerala has topped the index followed by Goa at the second spot and
Haryana at the third spot.
Delhi and Chandigarh are the leading UTs with their service portals
Among the north-east and hill states, Nagaland has got the first rank
The website of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) under the
finance ministry is the winner under
The index, which also assesses central ministries, has given the top spot
to the ministry of health & family welfare, while the second position has
been secured by the ministry of human resource development (MHRD)
for its SWAYAM education platform and the National Scholarship
Portal.
The CBDT portal has been ranked first under the assessment of central
ministry service portals, according to the report.
The list of Union Territories is topped by Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Other Awards
The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) has cliched a
national award for e-Governance 2019-20 for the Board’s Real-Time
Pollution-Monitoring System (RTPMS) project.
Odisha Govt’s GO SWIFT Portal won the National e-Governance Silver
award for the year 2019-20 under the Category-1 ‘Excellence in
Government Process Re-engineering for Digital Transformation’.
The Election Commission of India has been awarded ‘Silver’ for
Excellence in Government Process re-engineering for digital
transformation for the year 2019-20.
Antyodaya Saral of Department of IT, Haryana was awarded Gold for
Excellence in providing citizen-centric delivery.
IIT(Indian Institute of Technology) Roorkee’s (Uttarakhand) Satellite-
based Agriculture Information System: An Efficient Application of ICT
received the Gold Award for Outstanding Research on Citizen-Centric
Services.
Know! about ERONet
ERONet, a web portal launched by the Election Commission of India
through which citizens can now not only register for their voter-ID cards
online but also choose to change the state in which they want to enrol as a
voter without going through unnecessary bureaucratic hurdles. Persons
can apply online throughout the entire year at any time through this
portal.
The system strives to make an applicant’s entry in e-roll unambiguous
and error free without much of hassle.
For poll officials, meanwhile, this portal will help them deal with
inaccuracies in voter-related information, besides preventing the
proliferation of duplicate cards.
The software will allow officials to discern whether the person they are
enrolling in the voters’ list is a first-timer or someone who has registered
multiple times across India.
ERONet system will ensure that everything related to a voter is stored in
a computer and the process is digitized
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