Class Notes 4 You

The relationship between India and Sri Lanka is more than 2,500 years old. Both countries have a legacy of intellectual, cultural, religious and linguistic interaction. With Srilanka under the grip of an unprecedented economic turmoil and political instability, the worst in seven decades, leaving millions struggling to buy food, medicine, fuel and other essentials, India has hold its credential of being an age-old friend.  India's helping role in the crisis: A four-pronged” initiative has been decided that included  Lines of Credit (LoC) towards the import of fuel, food and medicines  Currency swap  Debt deferrals from India to Sri Lanka  Conclusion of the Trinco-oil farms project The Trincomalee project MoU was signed in January 2022 after decades of delays.  India has extended 400 million dollar under the “SAARC currency swap” arrangement.  India has agreed to a partial deferral of a 500 million dollar settlement from Sri Lanka by two months.  T...

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was started on 1st January, 2013, With the aim of reforming Government delivery system by re-engineering the existing process in welfare schemes for simpler and faster flow of information/funds and to ensure accurate targeting of the beneficiaries, de-duplication and reduction of fraud. Progressive step: Eliminate Leakages – e.g. MGNREGS saw 10 percent savings on wages on account of deletion of duplicate, fake/non-existent, ineligible beneficiaries.  It reduces corruption and abuse of power.  It ensures faster delivery of services. Limitation: Aadhar registrations presently covered around 91% of population. Since DBT is linked with Aadhar for schemes, there is need to improve Aadhar linkage to 100% so that not a single person can be left out.  Low level of digital literacy in the rural areas.  India has reached 81% financial inclusion and this will potentially exclude people from the rural background.  Banking correspondents also st...

As per Census 2011, disabled persons constitute 2.21% of the total population. India signed the United Nations Convention on Rights of Persons with Disability. Right of Persons with Disabilities (PwD) Act 2016 The types of disabilities have been increased from 7 to 21. The act added mental illness, autism, speech and language disability, sickle cell disease, acid attack victims, etc which were largely ignored in earlier act.  It increases reservation from 3% to 4% in government jobs and higher education institutes.  Every child with benchmark disability between 6 and 18 years shall have the right to free education.  Societal apathy towards Persons with Disability (PwD) in India: Discrimination and stigmatization attached to PwD by the society.  Consider PwD as burden or liability by family.  Negligence towards their issues like accessibility to Transport, IT etc.  Considered as a sin committed in last birth. Lax implementation by Government functioning: Lac...

PM Gati shakti will incorporate the infrastructure schemes of various Ministries and State Governments like Bharatmala, Sagarmala, Inland waterways, dry/land ports, UDAN etc. Multi-modal connectivity plan: The aim is to bring down logistics costs from 13-14% of GDP as against about 7-8% in developed economies.  Generation of investor interest: The scheme is in synergy with the National Monetization Pipeline (NMP) which give potential investors a ready list of assets to generate investor interest.  Creation of quality infrastructure: The plan includes 11 industrial corridors, National Highways of 2 lakh km; Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs). Role played by government: Provide prior land and environmental clearance. Ensure inter-ministerial and interstate coordination for smooth implementation.  Provide viability gap funding to address any financial hurdle Role played by private player: It will bring much needed finance.  Private Player also brings technologies, exper...

The 102nd Amendment Act of 2018 conferred a constitutional status on the Commission. For this purpose, the amendment inserted a new Article 338-B in the constitution. Hence, the Commission ceased to be a statutory body and became a constitutional body.  The scope of functions assigned to the Commission is also enlarged: Investigate and monitor all matters relating to the constitutional and other legal safeguards for the socially and educationally backward classes and to evaluate their working.  Inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the socially and educationally backward classes.  Participate and advise on the socio economic development of the socially and educationally backward classes and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union or a state.  Present to the President, annually and at such other times as it may deem fit, reports upon the working of those safeguards.  Make recommendations...

  Current Affairs  Important Newspaper Highlights for UPSC Civil Services Examination. 18 October 2022 The HINDU 🧡 (Page 4) : Principles of CAA can apply to Lankan Hindu Tamils, says HC judge  💚 (Page 6) : Today's weapon of choice, it's expanding dimensions  🧡 (Page 6) : Recovery analysis that points out what India got wrong 💚 (Page 6) : Gone girl 🧡 (Page 8) : Hindi imposition and its discontents 💚 (Page 8) : How does Tokenisation prevent online card fraud? 🧡 (Page 9) : Commodity fetishism: how products of labour attain mystical features 💚 (Page 10) : Justice Chandrachud appointed the 50th Chief Justice of India  🧡 (Page 12) : About 41.5 crore Indians out of multi-dimensional poverty since 2005-06 💚 (Page 12) : PM Modi inaugrates 'one nation one fertilizer scheme'  🧡 (Page 14) : Small savings yield is lower than stipulated by formula  The Indian EXPRESS 💚 (Page 8) : PM points to challenge of high import bill on edible oil, fertiliser  ...