National Current Affairs – UPSC/KAS Exams – 29th May 2018

India launches 2nd IT corridor in China to gain access to big Chinese market

• India today (29th May) launched its second IT corridor in China to cash in on the burgeoning Chinese software market which remained elusive despite the presence of top Indian technology firms.
• The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) has established one more Digital Collaborative Opportunities Plaza (SIDCOP) platform in China in an effort to provide market access to Indian IT firms in the huge Chinese market
• Agreements worth RMB 36 million (about USD six million) were signed between Indian service providers and Chinese customers at the launch of the corridor by China’s Guiyang Municipal government and the NASSCOM
• The pilot projects launched on the SIDCOP platform would be executed over the next year
• Last December, the NASSCOM established its first SIDCOP platform in the Chinese port city of Dalian, which is India’s first IT hub in China.
• India’s top IT firms have a big presence in China, specially multi-nationals and IT Corridor at Dalian which are expected to provide a gateway for the Indian IT-small and medium-sized enterprises.
• The Dalian IT corridor was formally launched few days ago.
• While Dalian corridor’s focus was on IOT (Internet of Things), the Guiyang corridor will focus on Big Data, Gagan Sabharwal, Senior Director, Global Trade Development NASSCOM
• The platform in Guiyang intends to create online and offline presence to promote a “co-create culture” between two large neighbours in the Big Data space

Akshay Kumar Launches Twin Pit Toilet Technology Campaign

• After promoting the idea of building toilets at homes in his last film Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, actor Akshay Kumar has now gone a step ahead and launched advertisement campaign for the Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) in Delhi.
• The campaign was launched at a Collectors Convention for Toilet Technology organized in the Capital.
• The campaign focuses on promoting the twin pit toilet technology in rural India, and also features actor, Bhumi Pednekar.

Tata Trusts signs MoU with government to provide development support in Naxal-hit districts in Chhattisgarh

• The Tata Trusts has joined hands with the government to help it in development initiatives in eight worst Naxal-affected districts in Chhattisgarh, which were covered under the “transformation of aspirational” districts programme.
• The philanthropic organisation started by the promoters of the Tata group, has signed an MoU with the government to provide technical and human resource assistance to the special development programme launched by the NITI Aayog.
• As per the pact, the Tata Trusts will help the government in conducting surveys and providing ground level and technical support in raising the living standards of citizens and ensuring inclusive growth for all
• The eight worst Naxal-hit districts, which were chosen for the programme and would be helped by the Tata Trusts are Rajnandgaon, Kanker, Bastar, Bijapur, Kondagaon, Dantewada, Narayanpur and Sukma.
• Two more districts of Chhattisgarh are also part of the programme and one of them is partially affected by the Maoists menace.
• The Tata Trusts own two-third of the stock holding of Tata Sons, the apex company of the 100 billion dollars salt-to-software conglomerate.

The Benefits

• The Memorandum of Understanding with the Tata Trusts will facilitate placing of development fellows at district and state levels to assist district collectors and district administrations in extracting optimum benefits
• In addition, Special Central Assistance Scheme — Rs 33 crore per district per annum — has been approved by the home ministry for filling critical gaps in public infrastructure and for services of emergent nature.
• Resources are also available in the form of District Mineral Funds and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds
• Use of a large number of women in self help groups for taking lead in development and diversification of forest based livelihood activities have also been encouraged.
• Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.
• Over 100 districts from across the country were chosen to implement the ambitious programme.
• The programme focusses closely on improving people’s ability to participate fully in the burgeoning economy.
• Health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development and basic infrastructure are the programme’s core areas of focus.
• It envisages the rapid development of the selected districts on the basis of a composite index based on health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resources, financial inclusion and skill development and basis infrastructure.
• The focus is to bring these indicators in the selected districts at par with the better performing districts in the country.
• The Tata Trusts is amongst India’s oldest, non-sectarian philanthropic organisations.
• The wealth that accrues from this asset supports an assortment of causes, institutions and individuals in a wide variety of areas.
• In this manner, the profits that the Tata companies earn go back many times over to the communities they operate in.
• These funds have been deployed towards a whole range of community development programmes across the country, for over a 100 years now.

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