Insights Daily Current Events, 10 August 2015
Suraksha Bandhan Drive
The Union Government of India has launched Suraksha Bandhan Drive in a Mission Mode through Participating Banks and Insurance Companies.
Aim: This drive aims to take forward the Government’s objective of creating a universal social security system in the country, targeted especially at the poor and the under-privileged.
Details:
- Through this drive the government aims to push its flagship social security plans through innovative schemes like gift cheques and special deposits.
- This drive aims to facilitate Enrolment Under Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY).
- Participating Banks supported by the participating Insurance Companies will work towards local outreach, awareness building and enrolment facilitation during this drive.
- The drive envisaged in the backdrop of Raksha Bandhan, will be supported through the Jeevan Suraksha Gift Cheques, which will be available for purchase for Rs.351 in Bank branches by persons wishing to gift them to facilitate one year payment of premium for PMJJBY and PMSBY by the recipient.
- The recipient of the gift cheque would deposit the instrument in his / her bank account for a realizable value of Rs.342 (Rs.12 + Rs.330) to cover one year subscription to PMJJBY and PMSBY. The balance of Rs.9 from the purchase price of Rs.351 would be retained by the issuing Bank as a service charge.
- In addition Banks will make available a facility to account holders under the Suraksha Deposit Scheme and the Jeevan Suraksha Deposit Scheme aimed at enabling them to deposit Rs.201 or Rs.5001, respectively in their accounts either on their own initiative by cash, regular cheque etc. or based on cash / regular cheques etc. received as gifts during the festive season of Raksha Bandhan for long term subscription to PMSBY or to both PMSBY and PMJJBY, respectively.
Sources: PIB, ET.
Yettinahole work against laws, allege environment activists
A group of environmental activists from Mangalore, Karnataka have alleged that the karnataka State government has begun Yettinahole diversion project in Sakleshpur taluk, Hassan district, forcibly brushing aside the opposition to it.
Major allegations:
- The government has taken up the works by violating Karnataka Preservation of Trees Act, 1976.
- Before the work was taken up, land acquisition process wasn’t taken up, land losers were not given compensation, and environmental hearing was not conducted.
- The project would dry the Nethravathi, the lifeline of Dakshina Kannada, in the coming days.
- The state government is following a dual policy, as in one hand it is stating that forest should be preserved for elephant corridor and on the other hand it is ravaging the forest for diversion of a water source.
About Yettinahole project:
- The Yettinahole project envisages to pump about 24 tmc ft of water from Yettinahole, a tributary of River Netravathi.
- It involves construction of dams and reservoir, pumping of water, flowing of water with gravitational force and finally filling of lakes.
- As per the project, 24 tmc ft of water from Ettinahole and a couple of other tributaries of Netravathi River will be drawn by constructing minor dams.
- The project envisages diverting the water to drought prone Chikkaballapur, Kolur, Tumkur and Bangalore rural districts.
- The total cost of the project is Rs 8,323 crore.
- The Yettinahole Project has come in for very strong opposition from environmental groups, who argue that the diversion of river basins from their natural course of opposite direction is fundamentally unscientific and would greatly disturb the very pattern of landscape ecology. This will result in problems like uneven percolation pattern, seepage problems, opening up of ground water sources in higher altitudes etc.
Sources: The Hindu, TOI.
Mysuru cleanest city, Bengaluru cleanest capital
Bengaluru has been billed the cleanest among capital cities in India and Mysore has topped the charts in Swachh Bharat ranking of 476 cities in the country by the Urban Development Ministry.
- Karnataka has done well for itself with two other cities — Hassan and Mandya — making it to the top-10 list.
- Ranking is done on two parameters of cleanliness — of solid waste management and eradication of open defecation.
- Karnataka is the only State to have four cities ranking among top 10.
Performance of other cities:
- Among urban local bodies in the national capital, Delhi Cantonment was ranked 15th in the list and New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) 16th, while Municipal Corporation of Delhi was at 398th position.
- West Bengal has done well in the rankings with 25 cities/towns finding a place in the top 100.
- Thirty-nine cities from the southern states were among the top 100, followed by 27 from East, 15 from West, 12 from North and seven from the North-Eastern states.
- Fifteen of the 27 capital cities surveyed figured among the top 100 performers while five were ranked beyond 300.
About Swachh Bharat Mission:
It was officially launched on 2 October 2014 and is India’s biggest ever cleanliness drive.
The mission seeks to achieve clean India and aims to provide access to toilets to all households in the country.
Objectives of the mission:
Eliminate open defecation.
- Conversion of insanitary toilets to pour flush toilets.
- Eradication of manual scavenging.
- 100% collection and scientific processing/disposal reuse/recycle of Municipal Solid Waste.
- To bring about a behavioral change in people regarding healthy sanitation practices.
- Generate awareness among the citizens about sanitation and its linkages with public health.
- Strengthening of urban local bodies to design, execute and operate systems.
- To create enabling environment for private sector participation in Capital Expenditure and Operation & Maintenance (O&M) costs.
The components of the programme are:
- Construction of individual sanitary latrines for households below the poverty line with subsidy (80%) where demand exists.
- Conversion of dry latrines into low-cost sanitary latrines.
- Construction of exclusive village sanitary complexes for women providing facilities for hand pumping, bathing, sanitation and washing on a selective basis where there is not adequate land or space within houses and where village panchayats are willing to maintain the facilities.
- Setting up of sanitary marts.
- Total sanitation of villages through the construction of drains, soakage pits, solid and liquid waste disposal.
- Intensive campaign for awareness generation and health education to create a felt need for personal, household and environmental sanitation facilities
Sources: The Hindu, PIB.
Bihar, Himachal get new Governors
Ram Nath Kovind (69) and Acharya Dev Vrat (56) were recently appointed as the new Governors of Bihar and Himachal Pradesh, respectively.
- Kovind, 69 is a Supreme Court lawyer and old Bharatiya Janata Party hand from Uttar Pradesh.
- Dev Vrat, 56, is the Principal of a school in Haryana that promotes Vedic culture and is a yoga teacher.
Appointment and tenure of governors: Quick look
- The governors and lieutenant-governors are appointed by the president for a term of 5 years.
- Article 157 and Article 158 of the Constitution of India specify eligibility requirements for the post of governor.
- The term of governor’s office is normally 5 years but it can be terminated earlier by: Dismissal by the president on the advice of the prime minister of the country, at whose pleasure the governor holds office or Resignation by the governor.
- There is no provision of impeachment, as it happens for the president.
Sources: The Hindu, gov.
Now more migratory birds visit Coringa sanctuary
The recently released reports of the annual survey conducted by the East Godavari River Estuarine Ecosystem (EGREE) Foundation and the Asian Water Bird Census indicated that there are 266 bird species in the Coringa mangrove, including 94 species of migratory birds.
- The report also reveals that dwindling of mud ponds in the Pulicat and low levels of water at the Point Calimere (in Tamil Nadu) are driving more and more migratory birds to Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary every year.
Coringa sanctuary – Quick facts:
- It is located in the state of Andhra Pradesh.
- It is the second largest surviving stretch of mangrove forests in India after Sundarbans of West Bengal.
- It is home for 24 mangrove tree species and over 120 bird species, according to an estimate.
- After Kolleru and Pulicat, Coringa is the third place that attracts more and more migratory birds every year.
- The sanctuary is a part of the Godavari estuary and has extensive mangrove and dry deciduous tropical forest.
Sources: The Hindu, Wiki.
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