National Current Affairs – UPSC/IAS Exams- 31st July 2019

National Crèche Scheme

Topic: Government Initiatives

In News: Minister of Women and Child Development, SmritiZubinIrani provided the information on National Crèche Scheme.

More on the Topic: 

• It is being implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme through States/UTs.
• It aims at providing a safe place for mothers to leave their children while they are at work, and thus, is a measure for empowering women as it enables them to take up employment.
• It is an intervention towards protection and development of children in the age group of 6 months to 6 years.
• The fund sharing pattern under National Creche Scheme amongst Centre, States/UTs & Non-Governmental Organisations/Voluntary Organisations for all recurring components of the scheme is in the ratio of 60:30:10 for States, 80:10:10 for North Eastern States and Himalayan States and 90:0:10 for UTs.

Features:

• Provides for day care facilities to the children of working mothers.
• Provides supplementary nutrition, health care inputs like immunization, polio drops, basic health monitoring, sleeping facilities, early stimulation (for children below 3 years), pre-school education for children aged between 3-6 yrs.

Significance:

• This scheme facility enables the parents to leave their children while they are at work and where the children are provided with a stimulating environment for their holistic development.
• This scheme ensures to improve the health and nutrition status of the children.
• It promotes physical, social, cognitive and emotional/holistic development of the children.
• It also educates and empowers parents/caretakers for the better childcare.
• The scheme is being structurally revised with the enhanced financial norms, stringent monitoring and sharing pattern between the Government of India and the implementing agencies and NGOs.

Source: PIB and Ministry of Women and Child Development

Microdot Patches

Topic: Science and Technology

In News: The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways on July 24 issued a draft notification to amend the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, allowing motor vehicles and their parts, components, assemblies and sub-assemblies to be affixed with permanent and nearly invisible microdots that can be read physically with a microscope and identified with an ultra violet light source.

More on the Topic:

• Microdot technology involves spraying the body and parts of a vehicle – or any other machine – with microscopic dots. This gives the object or vehicle a unique identification. Use of this technology is expected to help check vehicle theft and the use of fake spare parts.
• The microdots and adhesive would be permanent fixtures that cannot be removed without damaging the asset – the vehicle itself.
• The microdots, if affixed, will have to comply with AIS (Automotive Industry Standards)requirements.

Source: Money control

External commercial borrowings

Topic: Economy

In News: The RBI has decided to relax norms for end-use of funds raised via the external commercial borrowing (ECB) route by companies and non-banking finance companies, following feedback from various stakeholders.

More on the Topic:

• External commercial borrowing (ECBs) are loans in India made by non-resident lenders in foreign currency to Indian borrowers. They are used widely in India to facilitate access to foreign money by Indian corporations and PSUs (public sector undertakings).

Advantages of ECBs:

• ECBs provide opportunity to borrow large volume of funds.
• The funds are available for relatively long term.
• Interest rate are also lower compared to domestic funds.
• ECBs are in the form of foreign currencies. Hence, they enable the corporate to have foreign currency to meet the import of machineries etc.
• Corporate can raise ECBs from internationally recognized sources such as banks, export credit agencies, international capital markets etc.

Disadvantages of External Commercial Borrowing

• The company could develop a lax attitude as the funds are available at lower rates. Companies could borrow excessively due to this and it could eventually lead to higher debt on the company’s balance sheet, thereby adversely affecting financial ratios.
• Rating agencies see companies with higher debt on their balance sheets in a negative light, which could lead to a potential downgrade of such companies.
• Furthermore, the shares of the company could also be subject to a decline in market value over a period of time.
• Considering the fact that raising funds through External Commercial Borrowing is done in foreign currencies, the principal as well as the interest will have to be paid in foreign currencies. As such, the company is exposed to risks associated with exchange rates.

Source: The Hindu

The Odisha model of Women Empowerment

Topic: Social Justice

In News: Odisha’s women empowerment model can be used to solve nation’s women empowerment struggles.

More on the Topic:

• Odisha State government was among the first to reserve 50% of seats in Panchayati Raj institutions for women. Further, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik nominated women for one-third of the seats in Lok Sabha election.
• Thus, seven candidates out of 21 fielded by the party for the 2019 election were women. The success rate among the women candidates was higher than for men, as five out of seven won the elections.
• Besides empowering women politically, the government has been organising women into self-help groups in order to empower them economically ever since the BJD assumed power two decades ago. As of now, Odisha has six lakh self-help groups with seven million women under its flagship ‘Mission Shakti’ programme. The programme aims at empowering women by helping them start income-generating activities.
• The self-help groups are linked to the Odisha Livelihoods Mission and Odisha Rural Development and Marketing Society. Members of the self-help groups are encouraged to sell products at fairs and exhibitions organised by the State round the year.
• This gives them an opportunity to travel across different parts of the State and gain greater exposure. The State government had announced an interest-free loan of ₹3 lakh in January 2019 to each of the self-help groups.
• The Women and Child Development Department has been rechristened as the Women and Child Development and Mission Shakti Department.
• The nomination of Pramila Bisoi, a self-help group leader as a candidate for a Lok Sabha constituency could be seen as a deliberate and strategic move to bring self-help group members to the forefront of public life. The decision also sent the signal that rural women can also aspire to reach higher echelons in politics.

Present Status of Women’s Participation in Lok Sabha:

• However, the number of women taking leadership roles in India is rather small compared to the global average. The representation of women MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha has seen an improvement from 11% in 2014 to 14% in 2019, but it is still lower than the world average of 24.3%. In 2019, 715 women candidates contested the Lok Sabha election, while the number of men who contested stood at 7,334.
• It is widely acknowledged that women’s empowerment helps in the achievement of critical development goals. If there are a greater number of women in politics, there is a concomitant increase in the level of attention given to gender-specific policy and planning.

Model Mains Question: Comment on the importance to provide attention to gender specific policy and planning.

Source: The Hindu

Dholera Special Investment Region’ (DSIR)

Topic: Economy

In News: The ‘Dholera Special Investment Region’ (DSIR) is envisaged to be a first “green city in the world”.

More on the Topic:

• It is located to the south-west of Ahmedabad.
• It is one of the several greenfield cities that have been planned on the Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC).
• It will be the world’s largest urban development project.
• The DSIR is slated to be bigger than Singapore.
• It will be connected to the city by a six-lane Expressway with a metrorail running through its centre.
• It has been well planned and is well connected through all modes of transport including rail, road, metro and port.
• The Dholera greenfield International Airport is a part of DSIR.

About Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC):

• Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor is a mega infra-structure project of USD 90 billion with the financial & technical aids from Japan, covering an overall length of 1483 KMs between the political capital and the business capital of India, i.e. Delhi and Mumbai. A MoU in this regard was signed in 2006.
• The project would include six mega investment regions of 200 square kilometres each and will run through six states Delhi, Western Uttar Pradesh, Southern Haryana, Eastern Rajasthan, Eastern Gujarat, and Western Maharashtra. However, the Project Influence Region of DMIC includes parts of Madhya Pradesh too.
• The project aims to develop an environmentally sustainable, long lasting and technological advanced infrastructure utilizing cutting age Japanese technologies and to create world class manufacturing and investment destinations in this region.

Source: Financial Express and Wikipedia

Iconic Tourist Sites

Topic: Government Policies

In News: Union government is planning to develop 17 “Iconic Tourist Sites” in the country into world-class tourist destinations and to serve as a model for other tourism sites.

More on the Topic:

• The initiative is aimed at enhancing India’s soft power. Under this plan government is looking at overall development from the tourism point of view in and around these sites which includes roads and infrastructure, hotels and lodges, connectivity and access.
• As such, several ministries, from Railways to Civil Aviation, will be involved, while the Tourism Ministry will be the nodal agency.

The Sites which are planned to be developed under this plan are:

• Taj Mahal and Fatehpur Sikri (Uttar Pradesh),
• Ajanta & Ellora (Maharashtra),
• Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort and Qutub Minar (Delhi),
• Colva (Goa),
• Amer Fort (Rajasthan),
• Somnath and Dholavira (Gujarat),
• Khajuraho (Madhya Pradesh),
• Hampi (Karnataka),
• Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu),
• Kaziranga (Assam),
• Kumarakom (Kerala)
• Mahabodhi Temple (Bihar).

Source: PIB

MGNREGA

Why in News: MGNREGA is in news related to the implementation glitches.

More on the Topic: 

• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), also known as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) is Indian legislation enacted on August 25, 2005.
• The MGNREGA provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage. The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Govt of India is monitoring the entire implementation of this scheme in association with state governments.
• This act was introduced with an aim of improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled work to people living below poverty line in rural India. It attempts to bridge the gap between the rich and poor in the country. Roughly one-third of the stipulated work force must be women.
• Adult members of rural households submit their name, age and address with photo to the Gram Panchayat. The Gram Panchayat registers households after making enquiry and issues a job card. The job card contains the details of adult member enrolled and his /her photo. Registered person can submit an application for work in writing (for at least fourteen days of continuous work) either to Panchayat or to Programme Officer.
• The Panchayat/Programme officer will accept the valid application and issue dated receipt of application, letter providing work will be sent to the applicant and also displayed at Panchayat office. The employment will be provided within a radius of 5 km: if it is above 5 km extra wage will be paid.

Concerns:

• Inadequate Fund: The 2019-20 Budget has Rs 60,000 crore for MGNREGA, lower than the Rs 61,084 crore revised estimate for 2018-19. This reduction in the budget has no explanation. Independent activists, researchers and organisations working on MGNREGA have repeatedly claimed with rationales that the scheme can’t function properly with anything less than Rs 88,000 crore.
• The Centre had to allocate supplementary budgets for three straight years after original allocations were exhausted in the first few months of the respective financial years due to heavy demand from workers. Supplementary allocations, hwoever, were considerably delayed and slowed down work across the nation.
• Faulty MIS (Management Information system): The government has the power to release funds centrally to workers’ accounts and the liberty to control the pace of the programme through slowing down administrative processes, non-release of funds to states and delay allocating supplementary budget. Therefore, it becomes easy for them to play with the numbers on the MIS and keep the figures well below targets set at the beginning of the year.
• Going by MIS figures, the Centre generally argues that allocated funds are adequate and supplementary funds are used to manage deficit. However, the truth is that the potential, need and demand for work are much more than what is finally shown as achieved on the MIS.
• Work demand for NREGS: Considering each application demands work for at least 14 days, according to 2018-19 data, the government should allocate funds for at least 310 crore person days. The government though approved only 256 crore person days in ’18-19 and 258 crore for ’19-20. Registered work demands on MIS are far less than the actual needs and demands. Genuine work demands are not registered in most regions and dated receipts are not provided, thereby denying employment to workers.
• NREGA wages: Workers across the nation have been demanding higher wages in accordance with the recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, but to no avail.
• The recent central committee for fixation of national minimum wage, headed by Anoop Satpathy, recommended that the national minimum wage should be fixed at Rs 375 per day. Union Minister for Rural Development however, recently said the national minimum wage will not be applicable to MGNREGA and will be governed by its own law. His knowledge and understanding of the Act seems incomplete as it primarily states that the MGNREGA wages cannot be less than the minimum wage. These open violations of the law raise a question mark on the government’s intention for the poorest communities.
• The Aadhaar-linked payments (ALP) system: Most of the beneficiaries are digital illiterate and facing issues using the payment systems. MGNREGA payments worth more than Rs 1,000 crore have been rejected citing “inactive Adhaar” from 2015-16 to 2018-19. How can an Aadhaar be inactive is a mystery.
• The 2018-2019 economic survey claimed a reduction in delays in wage payments post-ALP. The use of Aadhaar in payments arise once pay orders are sent to the Centre and wages are released centrally through the electronic payment system via Aadhaar-based DBT.
• Prior to the signing of the pay order, there are multiple reasons for payments being delayed due to local administrative lapses. Aadhaar has no solution for these implementing and delivery flaws. The survey report seemed to have completely ignored the current state of governance and the incompetence of the administration in ensuring proper supply.

Way Forward:

• Adequate allocation of Budget funds
• Timely payments to workers: Eliminating the administrative/Technical delays.
• Further decentralising Implementation: Give gram Sabha more responsibility and power. Further strengthening of social Audit Mechanism, Giving sufficient attention towards the data of the audit. (Social audits are a requisite tool under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to monitor and evaluate the works that are being carried out under MGNREGA, in line with annual village plans.)
• Improving entitlements (ie, wages, compensations and worksite facilities)
• Genuine data collection and analysis for further improvement in the Policy implementation.

New Interventions:

• The Centre is all set to revamp MGNREGA. The revamp would include providing training to the rural poor to upgrade their skills and equip them for better employment opportunities with a stipend.
• Training will be provided to five crore unskilled labourers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) with stipend to compensate wage loss.
• The ministry plans to undertake 10 lakh water conservation works under MNREGA.
• Another major initiative is Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana Phase III in convergence with MGNREGA, which would involve building 1.25 lakh kilometres of roads connecting markets and mandis and other places of economic importance in rural India.

Source: Hindu, PACS, Down To Earth, Economic Times