Factly :-News Articles For UPSC Prelims | Feb 24, 2021

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“Maharaja Suheldev” Memorial and “Chittaura Lake” development work inaugurated

What is the News?

The Prime Minister has laid the foundation stone of a Maharaja Suheldev memorial and the development work of Chittaura lake in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district.

About Maharaja Suheldev:

• Maharaja Suheldev was the erstwhile ruler of Shravasti in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich district who ruled in the 11th century.
• He is known to have defeated and killed Ghazi Salar Masud in battle in Bahraich in 1034 AD. Ghazi Salar Masud was the nephew of Mahmud of Ghazni.
• Further, He is also mentioned in the 17th-century historical romance Mirat-i-Masudi. It was written by Abd-ur-Rahman Chishti in Persian-language. The book was written during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir.
• People of the Rajbhar and Pasi community consider him as their descendant. These communities have a significant presence in Uttar Pradesh.

Chittaura Lake:

• Chittaura Lake is located in Uttar Pradesh. The lake is also known as Ashtwarka jheel.
• A small river named Teri Nadi flows from this lake. Apart from that, The lake is home to many migratory birds.
• The lake is believed to be the place where the fight between Maharaja Suheldev and the Muslim invader Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud.
• A statue of Raja Suhaldev and a temple dedicated to Goddess Durga is present near the lake.

Source: Business Standard

“Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0”

What is the News?

Recently Union Health Minister launched Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0 in India. After the launch, States and UTs have started the implementation of the IMI 3.0.

Development of Immunisation Programme in India:

1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare introduced the Immunization Programme in India in 1978. It was released in the name of ‘Expanded Programme of Immunization’ (EPI).
2. In 1985, the EPI programme was modified as ‘Universal Immunization Programme’ (UIP). This was to be implemented in a phased manner to cover all districts in the country. Despite being operational for many years, UIP able to fully immunize only 65% of children in their first year of life.
3. Mission Indradhanush:
   • It was launched in 2014. The aim of the mission was to ensure full immunization with all available vaccines for children up to two years of age. Further, the mission aims to vaccinate pregnant women who were either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated under UIP.
   • Diseases covered for Vaccines: Under the mission, vaccination is provided free of cost against 12 vaccine-preventable diseases. Such as Diphtheria, Pertussis, Tetanus, Polio, Measles, Rubella, severe form of Childhood Tuberculosis, Rotavirus diarrhoea, Hepatitis B, Meningitis & Pneumonia caused by Haemophilus Influenzae type B, Pneumococcal Pneumonia and Japanese Encephalitis.
   • However, under Mission Indradhanush, Vaccination against Japanese Encephalitis and Haemophilus influenza type B is provided only in selected districts of the country.
4. Intensified Mission Indradhanush(IMI)
   • It was launched in 2017. The aim was to vaccinate each and every child up to two years of age. Apart from that, IMI also vaccinates all those pregnant women who have been left uncovered under the routine immunisation programme/UIP.
   • Special attention was given to unserved/low coverage pockets and urban slums with a migratory population.
   • Special vaccination drives were conducted under IMI. These drives aimed to ensure full immunisation coverage in 90% of select districts and cities by 2018.
5. Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 2.0
   • It was launched in December 2019. It aimed to achieve targets of full immunization coverage in 272 districts of 27 States. Full immunization of 652 blocks in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar also targetted. Hard-to-reach and huge tribal populated region were chosen as blocks
   • The mission has a focus on urban, underserved population and tribal areas.
   • IMI 2.0 also had Inter-ministerial and inter-departmental coordination.
6. Intensified Mission Indradhanush (IMI) 3.0
   • It aims to cover children and pregnant women who missed the routine immunisation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
   • Beneficiaries from migration areas and hard to reach areas will be targeted.
   • The mission will follow the COVID-Appropriate Behaviour(CAB) approach during the immunisation activities.
   • States have been asked to follow a “staggered approach” (Staged approach) to avoid crowding at the vaccination sites.
   • The vaccination sessions will be planned in such a way that not more than 10 beneficiaries will present at the session site at one given point in time.

1. Source: The Hindu 

NITI Aayog’s “draft national policy on migrant workers”?

What is the News?

NITI Aayog has prepared a Draft National Policy on Migrant workers.

Issues with the Existing Law on Migrants:

Inter-State Migrant Workers Act, 1979

• It was designed to protect labourers from exploitation by contractors. It safeguards their right to non-discriminatory wages, travel and displacement allowances, and suitable working conditions.
• However, this law covers only labourers migrating through a contractor. It does not cover independent migrants.

About the Draft Policy on Migrant Workers:

Approach: The draft policy describes two approaches to policy design:

• Handout Approach: It focuses on cash transfers, special quotas, and reservations. It also means providing aids instead of skills.
• Rights-Based Approach: It enhances the agency and capability of the community. Thereby, it promotes an individual’s own natural ability to thrive.

The Draft policy rejected the Handout approach and opted for a rights-based approach.

Salient features of the Draft Policy:

• Implementation by: Ministry of Labour and Employment should be the nodal Ministry for implementation.
• Special Unit: Ministry should create a special unit to help converge the activities of other Ministries. This unit would manage migration resource centres in high migration zones.
• Central Database: The policy calls for the creation of a central database of migrant labours.
• Role of Panchayats:  Panchayats should maintain a database of migrant workers. It would issue identity cards and passbooks to workers. Moreover, it would also provide migration management and governance through training, placement and social-security benefit assurance.
• Inter-state migration management bodies should be set up to cover the nation’s key migration corridors: Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai; Bihar and Delhi; Western Odisha and Andhra Pradesh; Rajasthan and Gujarat, and Odisha and Gujarat.
• Migrants Workers Section: Labour Departments in Each state should establish a migrant workers section. labour officers of source states and destination states should work collectively.
• Migrants Children Education: The Ministry of Education should take measures for migrant children’s education. It should map migrant children and provide local-language teachers in migrant destinations.
• Housing for Migrants: The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs should address issues of night shelters, short-stay homes and seasonal accommodation for migrants in cities.
• Grievance Cells: The National Legal Services authority(NALSA) and Ministry of Labour should set up grievance handling cells and fast track legal responses. It should work on issues like trafficking, minimum wage violations, and workplace abuses and accidents for migrant workers.
• Migrants should be the target of Disaster Risk Reduction(DDR) programmers in urban centres.

Source: Indian Express

Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund

About Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund

• Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development (AHIDF) is a Central Sector Scheme. It was launched by the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, and Dairying.
• Aim: To facilitate incentivization of investments for
  • Dairy processing and value addition infrastructure
  • Meat processing and value addition infrastructure and
  • Animal Feed Plant.
• Objectives:
  • To help increase milk and meat processing capacity and increase exports from these sectors
  • To develop entrepreneurship and generate employment
  • It would increase the price realization for the producer
  • To make available quality concentrated animals feed to cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, pig to poultry.
• Eligibility: The following entities will be eligible under AHIDF
  • Farmer Producer Organization(FPO)
  • Private companies
  • Individual entrepreneurs
  • Section 8 companies
  • Micro Small and Medium Enterprises.
• Benefits under the scheme:
  • Loan Contribution: The beneficiaries are to contribute a minimum of 10% margin money as an investment. The balance of 90% would be the loan component to be made available by scheduled banks.
  • Interest Subvention: The Government of India will provide a 3% interest subvention to eligible beneficiaries.
  • Loan Moratorium: There will be a 2 years moratorium period for the principal loan amount and 6 years repayment period thereafter.
  • Credit Guarantee Fund: NABARD would maintain a Credit Guarantee Fund. It would provide a Credit guarantee to those sanctioned projects which are covered under MSME defined ceilings. Guarantee Coverage would be up to 25% of the Credit facility of the borrower.

Source: The Hindu

President addressed “Guru Ravidas” Jayanti

What is the News?

The President of India has addressed the Guru Ravidas Jayanti Event.

 About Guru Ravidas:

• Ravidas was a 14th-century saint and reformer of the Bhakti movement in North India. It is believed that he was born in Varanasi in a cobbler’s family.
• Guru Ravidas Jayanti: It is celebrated on Magh Purnima. (It is the full moon day in the Hindu calendar month of Magha).
• Disciple of: He is believed to be a disciple of the bhakti saint-poet Ramananda. He was also contemporary to the bhakti saint-poet Kabir.
• Spiritual Guru: The Guru Ravidas is considered as a spiritual Guru of the Meera Bai.

Teachings of Guru Ravidas

• Abolition of Caste: Guru Ravidas dedicated his whole life to the abolition of the caste system. He openly disliked the notion of a Brahminical society.
• One God: He gained prominence due to his belief in one God and his unbiased religious poems. He also rejected the idea that people considered lower caste cannot meet God.
• Guru Granth Sahib: The devotional songs of Guru Ravidas made an instant impact on the Bhakti Movement. Around 41 of his poems were included in the religious text of the Sikhs ‘Guru Granth Sahib’.
• Begumpura: His idea of “Begampura” was considered as his moral and intellectual achievement. Begampura was a city conceived by him. In that city, there will be no sorrow, no caste and class.
• Ravidassia Religion: His teachings resonated with the people leading to the birth of the Ravidassia religion or Ravidassia Dharam.

Source: AIR

Integration of “Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease” with NPCDCS

What is the news?

The Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has launched operational guidelines for integration of NAFLD(Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease) under NPCDCS (National Programme for Prevention & Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke).

About NPCDCS (National Programme for Prevention & Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke):

• Launched in: It was launched in 2010. It aims to prevent and control Non-Communicable Diseases(NCDs).
• Implemented under: National Health Mission(NHM).
• Objectives: The objectives of the programme include awareness generation for the prevention of NCDs. Some important constituents of this program are screening, early detection, management and referral to an appropriate level health facility.

About Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease(NAFLD):

• It is a term for abnormal accumulation of fat in the liver despite the absence of harmful alcohol use, viral hepatitis or medications.
• Prevalence of NAFLD in India: As per studies, the prevalence of NAFLD is around 9% to 32% of the general population in India. There is a higher prevalence among overweight or obesity and those with diabetes or prediabetes.

Stages of NAFLD: The main stages of NAFLD are:

• Simple Fatty Liver Disease – It is a largely harmless build-up of fat in the liver cells. It may only be diagnosed during tests carried out for another reason.
• Non-Alcoholic steatohepatitis(NASH) – Mere deposition of fat in the liver is termed steatosis. It is characterized by inflammation of the liver.
• Fibrosis – It is where persistent inflammation causes scar tissue around the liver and nearby blood vessels. But the liver still able to function normally.
• Cirrhosis – It is the most severe stage after years of inflammation. At this stage, the liver shrinks and becomes scarred and lumpy. This damage is permanent and can lead to liver failure (where your liver stops working properly) and liver cancer.

Is NAFLD Curable?

• Once the disease develops, there is no specific cure available, and health promotion and prevention aspects targeting weight reduction, healthy lifestyle can prevent the mortality and morbidity due to NAFLD.

Source: PIB

“National Urban Digital Mission (NUDM)” and other governance initiatives

What is the News?

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has launched the National Urban Digital Mission(NUDM) and several other initiatives for transforming urban governance.

National Urban Digital Mission(NUDM):

• Launched by: It has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA). In partnership with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY).
• Aim: To build the shared digital infrastructure that will strengthen the capacity of the urban ecosystem to solve complex problems.
• Approach: The digital infrastructure will be built across three pillars of People, Process and platform. The infrastructure will provide holistic support to cities and towns.
• Target: The NUDM aims to institutionalise a citizen-centric and ecosystem-driven approach to urban governance and service delivery. The NUDM will be completed in 2022 cities by 2022. Further, it will be expanded across all cities and towns in India by 2024.
• Significance:
  • The digital infrastructure will help cities to consolidate and cross-leverage the various digital initiatives of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
  • It will also enable the cities and towns to benefit from holistic and diverse forms of support. Such as satisfying the needs and local challenges of the towns and cities.

India Urban Data Exchange (IUDX)

• Developed by: It has been developed in partnership between the Smart Cities Mission and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
• Purpose: It is designed to address the problem of data silos both within and across cities. It will address the data silos by providing a seamless interface for data providers and data users including Urban local bodies(ULBs). They can share, request and access datasets related to cities, urban governance and urban service delivery seamlessly.
  What is a data silo?
  A data silo is a group of raw data that is accessible by one department but isolated from the rest of the organization. This results in a severe lack of transparency, efficiency, and trust within that organization.

Read about Climate-Smart Cities Assessment Framework(CSCAF) 
SmartCode Platform:

• What is it? It is a platform that enables all ecosystem stakeholders to contribute to a repository of open-source codes. This repository will be used in providing various solutions and applications for urban governance.
• Purpose: It is designed to address urban challenges that ULBs face in the development and deployment of digital applications.
• How does it help? Since the existing codes available, the ULBs will customise them to suit local needs. So the ULBs don’t have to develop new solutions from scratch.
• The smart codes will be free and without any licensing or subscription fees. This will reduce the costs of building a locally-relevant solution. Because the cost is involved only in customising the code and developing a solution. Not for developing the code from scratch.

Read about Nurturing Neighbourhoods Challenge

Other Urban Governance Initiatives

 Climate Centre for Cities(C3):

• It has been launched by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs within the National Institute of Urban Affairs.
• It has been set up to consolidate and institutionalize and mainstream the learnings from experiences in our cities on climate change.

City Finance Portal:

• It is a single platform to enable sharing and learning of best practices and to help ULBs in accessing market funds.

Cycles4Change Challenge

 Source: PIB