National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams- 17th January 2019

NREGA gets additional Rs. 6,084 cr

Topic: Government Policies

IN NEWS: After exhausting 99% of its annual allocation three months ahead of time, the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREGA) scheme has been given an additional allocation of Rs. 6,084 crore to tide over the next three months.

More on the Topic:

• The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 (NREGA) is a social security scheme that aims at providing employment and livelihood to rural labourers in the country. In an endeavor to make overall and inclusive development a reality, the NREGA was passed as law and implemented across 200 districts in 2006.
• By 2008, the scheme was implemented across the country. Under the scheme, any adult who registers for rural employment will get a minimum job guarantee of 100 days each financial year.
• It was later renamed the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). If a person does not get employment within 15 days of registration, he/she becomes eligible for an unemployment allowance.
• The implementation of MGNREGA was left to Gram Panchayats.

Source:PIB

Facebook to tighten political ad rules for polls

Topic: Governance

IN NEWS: Facebook said on Tuesday it would tighten rules for political ads in countries uch as India where elections are scheduled in the first half of the year, building on transparency efforts already under way in the United States, Britain and Brazil after a series of scandals.

More on the Topic:

• In India, the network will launch an Ad Library and enforce authorisations before spring elections.
• In the U.S., Britain and Brazil, political advertisers must confirm their identity and location before they can run Facebook ads, which are also housed in a public, searchable library for up to seven years.
• The tech giant is focussing on preventing foreign interference and giving people more information about the ads they see across our platforms.

Source:The Hindu

Lancet’s diet plan for the world

Topic: Health

In news: With the ideal diet, your life would be less sweet but your lifespan would be longer. Cut consumption of sugar and red meat by 50%, and increase the intake of fruits, vegetables, and nuts — that is the top recommendation of a worldwide diet plan according to a special report released  by the journal Lancet . Such a diet would not only be healthier but also more environment-friendly.

More on the Topic:

• The EAT-Lancet Commission, an independent non-profit consisting of 19 scientists and 18 co-authors from 16 countries, was tasked with developing global scientific targets for a healthy diet and sustainable food production.
• The Commission recommended that the average adult, whose daily requirement is about 2,500 calories, must strive to source around 800 calories from whole grain (rice, wheat or corn), 204 calories from fruits and vegetables, and not more than 30 calories from red meat (beef, lamb or pork).
• It also suggested that the ideal diet should have no “added sugar” or “added fat”. Unhealthy diets are the leading cause of ill-health worldwide, and following this healthy diet could avoid approximately 11 million premature deaths a year, the report said.
• These global targets define a safe operating space for food systems that allow us to assess which diets and food production practices will help ensure that the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement [on Climate Change] are achieved.

Way Forward for a Healthy Society:

• The world’s diets must change dramatically. More than 800 million people have insufficient food, while many more consume an unhealthy diet that contributes to premature death and disease.
• To be healthy, diets must have an appropriate calorie intake and consist of a variety of plant-based foods, low amounts of animal-based foods, unsaturated rather than saturated fats, and few refined grains, highly processed foods, and added sugars.
• The researchers also modelled the effects of a global adoption of such a diet on deaths from diet-related diseases.
• Three models each showed major health benefits, suggesting that the new diet could globally avert 10.9-11.6 million premature deaths a year.

Source: The Hindu

Voter Awareness Forums(VAFs)

Topic: Governance

In news: Voter Awareness Forum(VAF) was launched by Election Commission of India.

More on the Topic:

• Voter Awareness Forums are informal Forums for generating awareness around electoral process through activities like discussions, quizzes, competitions and other engaging activities. All employees of the Organisation are expected to become members of the VAF with the Head of the Organisation acting as the Chair.
• VAFs will promote informed and ethical electoral participation, beginning from the first step ie voter registration.
• VAF is part of the Electoral Literacy Club programme of ECI. Launched on the 8th National Voters Day, 25th January 2018, the ELC programme envisages setting up of Electoral Literacy Club in every educational institution and Chunav Pathshala at every booth to cover those outside the formal education system.
• Around 2.11 Lakh ELCs have already been established across the country in the first year of the launch of the programme.

Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)

Topic: Government Schemes

In news: Regional Conference on “Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme (DDRS)”  to be held in Mumbai

More on the Topic:

• The objectives of the Conference are to disseminate the provisions of the revised scheme and to sensitize various stake holders about it. This conference also provides a unique opportunity for interactions amongst all stakeholders.
• The conference would ensure exchange of cross-sectoral views on the aspects of the efficacy of the scheme as well as the scope of improvements in it.
• The DDR scheme has been revised for making it more impactful for rehabilitation of PwDs.
• The list of model projects which has been optimized includes, Pre-Schools, Early Intervention and Training; Special Schools for Persons with Intellectual Disabilities, Hearing and Speech Disabilities; Visual Disabilities; Project for Cerebral Palsied children; Rehabilitation of Leprosy cured persons; Half way home for psycho-Social Rehabilitation of Treated and controlled Mentally ill persons; Home based Rehabilitation and Home Management; Community based Rehabilitation Programme (CBR); Low vision centres and Human Resource Development.

Citizenship Bill and Chakma and Hajong communities

Topic: Government Schemes

In news: Locals in Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram are protesting against the contentious Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 because it would serve as a legal basis for legitimising the claims of Chakma and Hajong refugees as the indigenous people of State.

More on the Topic:

• The Citizenship Bill seeks to grant citizenship to six minority communities — Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians — without valid documents from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan after six years of stay in India. Locals are concerned as this bill seeks to grant citizenship to Chakma and Hajong refugees.
• Chakmas and Hajongs were originally residents of Chittagong Hill Tracts in the erstwhile East Pakistan. They left their homeland when it was submerged by the Kaptai dam project in the 1960s.
• The Chakmas, who are Buddhists, and the Hajongs, who are Hindus, also allegedly faced religious persecution and entered India through the then Lushai Hills district of Assam (now Mizoram). The Centre moved the majority of them to the North East Frontier Agency (NEFA), which is now Arunachal Pradesh.
• Their numbers have gone up from about 5,000 in 1964-69 to one lakh. At present, they don’t have citizenship and land rights but are provided basic amenities by the state government.