IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-02

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Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana

News

• The CSC e-Governance Services India, which manages over 3.5 lakh common service centres across the country, has set a target of enrolling 2 crore small and marginal farmers under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan-Dhan Yojana by August 15.

Beyond News:

• The PM-KMY was launched by Agriculture Minister which entitles eligible farmers for monthly pension of ₹3,000 per month.
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare has roped in CSC, a special purpose vehicle under the Ministry of Electronics and IT, as exclusive “enrolling agency” for enrollment of subscribers.
• Under the PM-KMY, which was announced in the Budget 2019-20, a monthly pension of ₹3,000 will be provided to eligible farmers on attaining the age of 60.
• The scheme is being implemented across the country. Farmers holding up to 2 hectare farm land will be eligible for the PM-KMY scheme.
• The PM-KMY is a voluntary and contribution-based pension scheme for farmers in the age group of 18 to 40 years. Farmers will have to make a monthly contribution of ₹55 to ₹200 depending on the age of entry in the pension fund till they reach the retirement age of 60 years.
• The central government will make an equal contribution of the same amount in the pension fund.
• Farmer’s spouse is also eligible to get a separate pension of ₹3,000 upon making separate contribution to the fund. In case of death of the farmer before the retirement date, the spouse may continue with the scheme. If the spouse does not wish to contribute, the total contribution made by the farmer along with interest will be paid to the spouse.

Source: PIB india, The Hindu

No exchange of sweets along Indo-Pak border on Eid

News

• The customary exchange of sweets between the BSF and the Pakistan Rangers along the International Border did not take place on the occasion of Eid al-Adha.

Diplomatic ties

• The unilateral downgrading of diplomatic ties by Pakistan in the wake of the government’s decision to revoke provisions of Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir, is being seen as the reason.
• The two forces that are deployed along over 3,000 kms of the border, exchange sweets on major festivals such as Eid, Holi, Diwali and their respective national days.
• However, a similar exchange of sweets between BSF personnel and their Bangladeshi counterparts, Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB), took place at designated locations along the 4,096-km frontier shared by the two countries.
• Senior commanders of the two forces exchanged best wishes and presented sweets to each other as part of the existing friendly protocol along the Bangladesh border.

Source: The Hindu

Dam Safety Bill

News

• The Dam Safety Bill, aimed at developing uniform safety procedures for all dams across the country, has been introduced in the Lok Sabha for the third time.

Provisions:

• The Bill enables the setting up of a National Committee on Dam Safety (NCDS) to formulate policies and regulations regarding dam safety standards and to analyse causes of major dam failures to suggest changes in safety practices.
• To implement these policies, a National Dam Safety Authority will be set up.
• At the State level, the Bill provides for the constitution of a State Dam Safety Organisation to take care of its dams, and a State Committee on Dam Safety to review its work, among other things.

Source:PRS india, PIB india, The Hindu

22nd National Conference on e-Governance adopts ‘Shillong Declaration’ with focus on Northeast

News:

22^nd National Conference on e-Governance adopts ‘Shillong Declaration’ with focus on Northeast.

Beyond News:

• The conference was an attempt to streamline e-governance services for effective policy implementation while helping to bridge the technological divide
  •The central government and state governments would collaborate to improve the citizens’ experience with government services.
  •It was also resolved to improve the quality of delivery of e-Services in the Northeast to fulfil the vision of improved citizen experience etc.

Source: PIB india

IASTODAY DAILY CAPSULES -General Studies-03

Plant reveals Andaman’s relation to peninsular India

News

• The discovery of a lesser-known plant species from the Andaman Islands could help scientists reconstruct the continental connection of the insular island region in the Bay of Bengal with peninsular India and Sri Lanka in the remote past.

Eugenia genus

• During an exploration in the semi evergreen forests of Wright Myo in the southern islands of the Andaman group in 2003, scientists came across an interesting species belonging to the Eugenia genus.
• Only one population comprising about 12 mature plants as undergrowth was discovered from the location.
• The scientists collected two seedlings of the species and introduced them at the field gene bank of JNTBGRI.

Slow growth rate

• The growth rate of the live specimens was extremely slow. One of the live plants grew into a small shrub about 2 m high and started flowering regularly since 2015 and eventually bore fruit in 2019.
• Detailed taxonomical studies carried out by the scientists established the species as Eugenia mooniana, a plant that is hitherto known to occur only in Assam, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka.
• There are 1,026 common species for the Andaman-Nicobar islands and the Western Ghats of peninsular India.

Source: The Hindu

DNA forensics settles trans-boundary dispute of elephant poaching

News

• Two persons were arrested for smuggling the ivory, which was suspected to have been sourced from an elephant killed in the Budhbare area of Nepal’s Jhapa district a few weeks earlier.
• In July 2018, officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) seized six pieces of ivory weighing nine kg at Siliguri in West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.

DNA forensics

• To ascertain the facts, the DRI officials sent the ivory to scientists at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) in Kolkata in August last.
• After intelligence from India about the smuggling was shared with the law enforcement agencies in Nepal and following the Ministry of External Affairs’ intervention, samples from the carcass a small piece of ivory (about 12 gm) and its flesh were obtained and handed over to the ZSI.
• After studying the samples (from the carcass a small piece of ivory (about 12 gm) and its flesh were obtained) using DNA forensics, team at the ZSI deduced that the samples did not match.
• Over the past few years, several kg of ivory valued worth crores of rupees have been seized by different agencies including the DRI and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in north Bengal.
• The region falls under what is termed the ‘Kanchenjunga Landscape’, an area shared by India, Nepal and Bhutan.

Source: The Hindu

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