DAILY PIB NOTES-NOVEMBER 19 2020

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IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

Financial Management and Governance Reform Initiatives in Ministry of AYUSH

News

• The Ministry of AYUSH has rolled out a set of initiatives to improve Financial Management and accelerate Governance Reforms. 

New initiatives

• These initiatives have two thrust areas, namely the Government Schemes (both Central Sector and Centrally Sponsored) and the Autonomous Bodies of the Ministry.
• These were taken up for implementation on priority by the different units of the Ministry. 
• Drawing up the list of financial and governance reforms, and designing programme/schemes to ensure that fund flow is reached to Project Implementation Agency in a seamless and direct manner are among the ground work activities identified. 
• These will be supplemented with timely release of funds to State Governments with matching shares and pre-defined triggers so that there is no parking of funds at any level. 
• These steps, thus serve to nullify some of the frequently observed bottlenecks that delay government projects.
• An immediate impact of this initiative has been the increased adoption of the Public Financial Management System, the modern and speedy accounts management system of the Government, by the Autonomous Bodies and Schemes Units of the Ministry.
• The practice of the Autonomous Bodies (ABs) entering into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of AYUSH with performance targets has also been adopted and implementation with respect to many of the ABs. 
• Introduction of Third Party Evaluation of all Government Schemes of the Ministry is another step, and this will be carried out by November, 2020.  This will lead to objective evaluation of outcomes and consequent performance improvement.
• Considering that the National Ayush Mission (NAM) is a flagship project with country-wide impact on promotion of AYUSH systems, special efforts will be taken to streamline its operations. 

Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge across 243 Cities

News

• MoS, I/C, Housing and Urban Affairs launched the Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge at a webinar in New Delhi.

Aim: Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge which aims to ensure that no life of any sewer or septic tank cleaner is ever lost again owing to the issue of ‘hazardous cleaning.

Safaimitra Suraksha Challenge

• The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act (2013) and various judgements of Hon’ble Supreme Court expressly prohibit hazardous cleaning, i.e. manual entry into a septic tank or sewer without protective gear and observing operating procedures.
• Cities will be awarded in three sub-categories – with population of more than 10 lakhs, 3-10 lakhs and upto 3 lakhs, with a total prize money of Rs 52 crores to be given to winning cities across all categories.
• Since its launch in 2014, SBM-U has made significant progress in the area of both sanitation and solid waste management. 4337 Urban local bodies (ULBs) have been declared open defecation free (ODF) (except 35 ULBs of West Bengal), 1319 cities certified ODF+ and 489 cities certified ODF++. 
• Moreover, over 62 lakhs individual household toilets and over 5.9 lakhs community/ public toilets have been constructed. Additionally, over 59,900 toilets across 2900+ cities have been made live on Google Maps.
• In the area of solid waste management, 97% of wards have 100% door-to door collection while 67% of the total waste generated is being processed.
• A total of six cities have been certified as 5 Star, 86 as 3 star and 64 as 1 star under the Star Rating Protocol for Garbage Free Cities.

India – Luxembourg Virtual Summit

News

• Indian Prime Minister held a Bilateral Summit with H.E. Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Grand Duchy of Luxembourg in virtual format.

Strengthening India-Luxembourg relationship

• The two Prime Ministers exchanged views on strengthening India-Luxembourg relationship in the post-COVID world, especially in the areas of financial technology, green financing, space applications, digital innovations and start-ups.
• They welcomed the conclusion of various agreements between the two countries, including those between their financial market regulators, stock exchanges and innovation agencies.  
• The two Prime Ministers agreed to strengthen cooperation on realizing effective multilateralism and combating global challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic, terrorism and climate change.
• Prime Minister welcomed Luxembourg’s announcement to join the International Solar Alliance (ISA), and invited it to join the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). 

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

$120 million loan signing between Government of India and the World Bank for the implementation of Meghalaya Integrated Transport Project (MITP)

News

• The Government of India, the Government of Meghalaya and the World Bank signed a $120 million project to improve and modernise the transport sector of state of Meghalaya.

Modernise the transport sector

• This will help Meghalaya to harness its vast growth potential for high-value agriculture and tourism.
• The project will improve about 300 km of strategic road segments and stand-alone bridges by using innovative, climate resilient, and nature-based solutions.
• It will also support innovative solutions such as precast bridges to reduce both time and cost of construction.
• Difficult hilly terrain and extreme climatic conditions make Meghalaya’s transport challenges particularly complex. On account, today, about half of the 5,362 habitations in the state lack transport connectivity.
• This operation will also support state government’s “Restart Meghalaya Mission” to revive and boost development activities affected due to COVID-19 pandemic.
• It will help restore transport services and generate direct employment of about 8 million person days.
• The $120 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a maturity of 14 years including a grace period of 6 years.

Government of India & NDB Sign Agreement for USD 500 Million to Provide Fast, Reliable, Safe and Comfortable Public Transport System in The National Capital Region

News

• The Government of India, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited and the New Development Bank(NDB) signed a loan agreement for lending USD 500 million for the ‘Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Project’ to provide fast, reliable, safe and comfortable public transport system in the National Capital Region (NCR).

Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System Project

• The NCR is among the world’s largest urban agglomerations and a major economic centre of India. Due to lack of efficient public transport options, the number of private vehicles in NCR has increased.
• Fast transit system will support in achieving the goal of sustainable urban development in NCR region including National Capital Territory of Delhi.
• It will activate processes which will enable sustainable economic and social development with environmental protection, for future generations.
• The environment friendly and very low emission RRTS will carry many times more people at high speed (average speed 100 kmph) while occupying just 3 m space on land thus reducing congestion on the roads.
• Overall it will significantly reduce the total emissions from the transport sector in NCR.