Ranking of Aspirational Districts
In News:
The NITI Aayog has launched the first Delta ranking (incremental progress) for the Aspirational Districts.
Delta ranking:
The ranking is based on self-reported data of districts across five developmental areas of Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure. Districts to provide real-time data points by filling up the Champions of Change Dashboard.
Significance of delta ranking:
Performance of various districts:
About the scheme:
Launched in January this year, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ programme aims to quickly and effectively transform some of the most underdeveloped districts of the country.
The broad contours of the programme are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a Mass Movement or a Jan Andolan.
With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.
Focus of the programme:
To enable optimum utilization of their potential, this program focuses closely on improving people’s ability to participate fully in the burgeoning economy. Health & Nutrition, Education, Agriculture & Water Resources, Financial Inclusion & Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure are this programme’s core areas of focus.
Significance of the scheme:
If these districts are transformed, there would be tremendous improvement in the internal security environment of the country. If Prabhari officers can bring convergence in the development efforts of different Ministries and state Governments and the schemes specially launched by Home Ministry in these districts, it would serve as a great opportunity to ensure rapid development in the country.
Source: The Hindu
Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan (PMSMA)
In News:
‘IPledgefor9′ Achievers Awards were given recently to the individuals and teams of doctors from the private sector and States for their exemplary services, outstanding support of institutions and commitment from support partners in achieving PMSMA’s objectives of safe motherhood to every woman in the country.
Details:
‘IPledgeFor9’ Achievers Awards have been devised to celebrate individual and team achievements and acknowledge voluntary contributions for PMSMA in states and districts across India.
About PMSMA:
Background:
Data indicates that Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) in India was very high in the year 1990 with 556 women dying during child birth per hundred thousand live births as compared to the global MMR of 385/lakh live births. As per RGI- SRS (2011-13), MMR of India has now declined to 167/lakh live births against a global MMR of 216/lakh live births (2015). India has registered an overall decline in MMR of 70% between 1990 and 2015 in comparison to a global decline of 44%.
Way ahead:
While India has made considerable progress in the reduction of maternal and infant mortality, every year approximately 44000 women still die due to pregnancy-related causes and approximately 6.6 lakh infants die within the first 28 days of life. Many of these deaths are preventable and many lives can be saved if quality care is provided to pregnant women during their antenatal period and high risk factors such as severe anemia, pregnancy-induced hypertension etc are detected on time and managed well.
Facts for Prelims:
SDG 3.1 By 2030, reduce the global maternal mortality ratio to less than 70 per 100 000 live births.
Source: PIB
ReUnite
In News:
Mobile application launched by Indian Railways which helps to track and trace missing and abandoned children in India. The application has been developed by Bachpan Bachao Andolan & Capgemini.
Key features of this app:
The app is multiuser where parents and citizens can upload pictures of children, and provide detailed description like name, birth mark, address, report to the police station, search and identify missing kids.
Amazon Rekognition, web facial recognition service, is being used to identify missing kids. The app is available for both Android and iOS.
About Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA):
It is India’s largest movement for the protection of children and works along with law enforcement agencies and policymakers. It was founded by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi.
BBA has played a very important role in formulation of several laws for protection of child’s rights. It began from the Nithari case in 2006 which finally culminated with the Supreme Court passing the landmark judgement in 2013 ordering that FIR has to be lodged in all cases of missing children.
Source: PIB
UN migration agency
In News:
António Manuel de Carvalho Ferreira Vitorino of Portugal was recently elected by the member States of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to serve as the agency’s Director General.
About IOM:
Source: The Hindu
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
In News:
OPCW has granted itself new powers to assign blame for attacks, despite protests by Russia. Until now, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) could only say whether chemical weapons were used – but not who had used them.
Significance of the move:
This is an important step forward for arms control. It strengthens the unravelling consensus against the use of chemical weapons. It marks a victory for the rules-based international order, which itself is under increasing strain given the rise of populists and nationalism in many countries.
About OPCW:
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons is the implementing body of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force in 1997.
The organisation was awarded the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize “for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons”.
The Convention contains four key provisions:
Source: The Hindu
Treasury Bill
In News:
After reviewing the cash position of the Central Government, the Government of India, in consultation with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to notify the amounts for the issuance of Treasury Bills for the Quarter ending September 2018.
About Treasury bills:
Source: The Hindu
Statistics Day
In News:
On the eve of 12th Statistics Day (June 29th), a commemorative coin of Rs 125 and circulation coin of Rs 5 denomination have been released. The day marks 125th Birth Anniversary of Professor P. C. Mahalanobis.
National Statistics Day:
In recognition of the notable contributions made by Late Professor Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis in the fields of statistics, statistical system and economic planning, Government of India in 2007, has designated 29thJune as the “Statistics Day” in the category of Special Days to be celebrated every year at the National level.
The objective of celebration of this Day is to create public awareness about the importance of statistics in socio-economic planning and policy formulation, to acknowledge the contribution of Prof. Mahalanobis, and to pay homage to him.
Theme this year: ‘‘Quality Assurance in Official Statistics’.
Facts for Prelims:
Source: The Hindu
‘Mission Shaurya’
In News:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently met a group of ten tribal students from Maharashtra who were a part of a team of the ‘Mission Shaurya’ initiative of the Adivasi Vikas Vibhag of the Maharashtra State Government.
Details:
Under Mission Shaurya expedition,10 tribal students from “ashram shalas” (residential schools) in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra conquered Everest.
It was a joint initiative of the state Tribal department and Chandrapur Collectorate to scale Everest.
Source: PIB
Exchange Traded Fund
CORPAT
Third Neighbour Policy