National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 4th October 2019

Directives to Clean Ganga

Topic: Governance/Environment and Ecology

In News: The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) recently has issued a directive to the 11-Ganga basin states to prevent idol immersion into river Ganga and its tributaries and on their banks, including cordoning off the ghats.

More on the Topic:

• The directive has been sent to officials of 11 Ganga Basin states namely Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
• A fine of Rs. 50,000 would be imposed if immersion of idols took place in the Ganga or its tributaries during festivals, including Dussehra, Diwali, Chhath and Saraswati Puja.
• The large-scale immersion of idols and puja material in the Ganga and its tributaries during festive occasions led to an alarming rise in pollutants in the river.
• The Chief Secretaries of these 11 states have also been asked to submit an action taken report within seven days from the end of each festival.
• These directives were issued by NMCG under Section-5 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

Causes of Ganga Pollution:

• Industrial waste (dumping of various harmful & untreated industrial waste into the river)
• Human waste (including carcass is dumbed in to Ganga)
• Religious waste (religious bath, cremation near the ghats, idol immersion, etc.)

Initiatives to Prevent Ganga Pollution:

• Ganga Action Plan: It was the first River Action Plan that was taken up by the Ministry of Environment & Forests in 1985, to improve the water quality by the interception, diversion, and treatment of domestic sewage. It also aimed to prevent toxic and industrial chemical wastes (from identified polluting units) from entering the river. National River Conservation Plan was an extension to the Ganga Action Plan, so as to cover all the major rivers of the country.
• ‘National River Ganga Basin Authority (NRGBA)’: was formed by the Central Government of India in the year 2009 under Section-3 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986. It is chaired by the Prime Minister of India.
• ‘Namami Gange Programme’: was launched as an Integrated Conservation Mission, to accomplish the twin objectives of effective abatement of pollution, conservation, and rejuvenation of National River Ganga.
• The program is being implemented by the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), and its state counterpart organization viz., State Program Management Groups (SPMGs). It is the flagship programme of the Union Government.

The main pillars of the programme are:

• Sewerage Treatment Infrastructure & Industrial Effluent Monitoring,
• River-Front Development & River-Surface Cleaning
• Bio-Diversity & Afforestation
• Public Awareness.
• Clean Ganga Fund: was formed for cleaning up of the Ganga, setting up of waste treatment plants, conservation of biotic diversity of the river, and development of public amenities (activities such as Ghat redevelopment, and Research and Development and innovative projects). This fund will also be used to finance National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG).
• In 2017, the National Green Tribunal banned the disposal of any waste in the Ganga.

National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG):

• It is the implementation wing of the National Council for Rejuvenation, Protection, and Management of River Ganga also known as National Ganga Council (set in 2016; which replaced the NRGBA).
• NMCG was established in the year 2011 as a registered society.
• It has a two-tier management structure and comprises of Governing Council and Executive Committee.

The aims and objectives of NMCG are:

• To ensure effective control of pollution and rejuvenation of the river Ganga by adopting a river basin approach to promote inter-sectoral coordination for comprehensive planning and management.
• To maintain minimum ecological flows in the river Ganga with the aim of ensuring water quality and environmentally sustainable development.

Source: Hindu

PRAKASH Portal

Topic: e-Governance

In News: The government has launched a web portal, PRAKASH (Power Rail Koyla Availability through Supply Harmony), with a view to improving coordination between the power, coal and railway ministries to ensure coal supplies to power plants.

More on the Topic:

• It has been developed by NTPC and sources data from different stakeholders such as Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) and coal companies.
• The portal is not accessible to the general public.
• Stakeholders including the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and Power System Operation Corporation Ltd. (POSOCO) can review overall availability of coal at thermal power plants in different regions. The Portal will make available related reports.
• Coal company will be able to track stocks and the coal requirement at power stations for effective production planning.
• Indian Railways will plan to place the rakes as per actual coal available.
• Power stations can plan future schedule by knowing rakes in pipe line and expected time to reach.

Source: The Hindu

Performance Smart-Board

Topic: e- Governance

In News: The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY) has launched an Automated Real Time Performance Smart-Board to ensure effective monitoring of the key programmes of the Ministry.

More on the Topic:

• It will act as a single window access for Centre, State or District specific projects implemented by MeitY. Some of them include: Aadhar, Digital India, Digital Payments etc.
• It will provide real-time, dynamic analytical project monitoring for critical and high priority Programme/Schemes of MeitY.
• It will enhance analysis through data integration by consolidating multiple data sources into one centralized, easy-to-access platform.

Mains Question:Implementation of information and Communication Technology (ICT) based Projects / Programmes usually suffers in terms of certain vital factors. Identify these factors, and suggest measures for their effective implementation.

Source: Hindu

Paryatan Parv 2019

Topic: Government Schemes

In News: Ministry of Tourism is organising Paryatan Parv 2019 dedicated to 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

More on the Topic:

• The objective of the event is to draw focus on the benefits of tourism, showcase the cultural diversity of the country and reinforce the principle of “Tourism for All”.

The three components of Paryatan Parv are:

• Dekho Apna Desh: To encourage Indians to visit their own country. In the run up to the parv, several activities have been organised across the Country like photography contest, promotion on social media among others through the MyGov platform.
• Tourism for All: Tourism Events at sites across all States in the country are being organised.The activities at these sites will include illumination in and around the Sites, Cultural Programmes among others,
• Tourism & Governance: Interactive Sessions & Workshops with Stakeholders on varied themes have been organised across the Country as a part of the Paryatan parv activities.

Source: PIB

India Economic Summit

Topic: International Organisations

In News: The World Economic Forum’s 33rd edition of the India Economic Summit is being conducted in New Delhi.

More on the Topic:

• The summit is being held by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the CII(Confederation of Indian Industry).
• The theme of the summit is ‘Innovating for India: Strengthening South Asia, Impacting the World’.
• The summit aims to accelerate Fourth Industrial Revolution.(Refer to separate article on this) It will also have special focus on collaboration with South Asia and ASEAN countries.
• The summit is to address strategic issues based on 4 thematic pillars
• New Geopolitical reality: effects of geopolitical shifts and complexity of the global system, New Social System: Inclusive growth, health and inequality, New Ecological System: Climate Change, Environment and Food and New Technological System: Science, innovation, entrepreneurship and fourth industrial revolution.

Source: Hindu

Street Lighting National Programme(SLNP)

Topic: Government Policies

In News: The number of LED street lights in the country has doubled from 49 lakh in March 2018 to 1 crore on October 1,2019. These lights are being installed under the Street Lighting National Programme(SLNP).

More on the Topic:

• Street Light National Programme(SLNP) is an initiative of the Government to promote energy efficiency in the country.
• The programme has been launched in 2015 to convert conventional street and domestic lights with energy efficient LED lights.
• It aims to replace 3.5 crore conventional street lights with energy efficient LED lights.
• Energy Efficiency Services Limited, a Public Energy Services Company under the administration of Ministry of Power,Government of India(GoI) is the implementing agency for SLNP.

Objectives of the programme:

• Mitigate climate change by implementing energy efficient LED based street lighting
• Reduce energy consumption in lighting which helps DISCOMs to manage peak demand
• Provide a sustainable service model that obviates the need for upfront capital investment as well as additional revenue expenditure to pay for procurement of LED lights
• Enhance municipal services at no upfront capital cost of municipalities.

Source: PIB

Village Secretariat system

Topic: Governance

In News: Andhra Pradesh Government has launched the Village Secretariat system.

More on the Topic:

• The village secretariat system is aimed at ensuring an efficient and corruption-free delivery of the government’s welfare schemes to households.
• Under the system, one Village Secretariat has been set up for every population of 2,000 with each one comprising close to a dozen village officials.
• The system would consist of ward and village volunteer system who will take governance to the doorsteps of the people.
• The volunteers will conduct door-to-door visits and provide the benefits under various programmes to eligible beneficiaries.
• This scheme also involves the provision of one volunteer to cover 50 families in each village. Identity cards would be given to the volunteers and they would be given an honorarium of Rs 5,000 per month.
• The volunteers would first identify the beneficiaries, get to know their problems and then delineate the schemes being provided by the government for them.

Source: Hindu

Vayoshreshtha Samman

Topic: Awards and Honours

In News: President of India will confer the Vayoshreshtha Samman-2019 on the eminent senior citizens and institutions to mark International Day of Older Persons.

More on the Topic:

• Vayoshrestha Sammans are conferred every year in 13 categories to eminent senior citizens and Institutions in recognition for their service to elderly persons.
• The objective of the award is to showcase the Government’s concern for senior citizens and its commitment towards senior citizens with the aim of strengthening their legitimate place in society.
• The series of awards were instituted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the year 2005 and were elevated to the level of national awards in 2013.
• The recipients of the Sammans are conferred on the 1st October on the occasion of International Day of Older Persons(IDOP).

Source: PIB