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  • Current Affairs 7th March 2019

    Updated : 08-Mar-2019

    Current Affairs 7th March 2019 - Important Points

    • India to celebrate  ‘Janaushadhi Diwas’ on - 7th March 2019
    • India, World Bank sign $250 million MoU to boost rural income on - 5th March 2019
    • Women to get Permanent Commission in -Indian Armed Forces
    • Home Ministry launched smart fencing on Indo-Bangladesh border to deter illegal infiltration on - 5th March 2019
    • Malaysia joins the International Criminal Court  by approving  the - Rome Statue making
    • India nominates Ramesh Chand to head - Food & Agriculture Organisation
    • Who has been appointed as the director-general of the National Archives of India ? - P V Ramesh
    • Justice SA Bobde selected as NALSA Executive Chairman by - President Ram Nath Kovind 


    Current Affairs 7th March 2019 - Details

    India to celebrate  ‘Janaushadhi Diwas’ on - 7th March 2019


    The Union Minister of State for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Road Transport & Highways, & Shipping, Mansukh Mandaviya, on March 6th, 2019 declared March 7th, 2019 will be celebrated as the “Janaushadhi Diwas” across the nation.
    On the event of the “Janaushadhi Diwas”, the PM Narendra Modi will meet with owners of Janaushadhi
    Kendras & recipients of the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana across the nation through video conference.
    Objective
    The Janaushadhi Diwas intends to deliver further impetus & spread awareness about the use of generic drugs. The day also highpoints the initiatives undertaken by Government in the route of making quality healthcare affordable for all, like Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana, etcetera. 
    The Government released the PMBJP to make affordable & quality generic drugs popular among the people.
    Important objectives of the scheme
    To promote better awareness about cost effective drugs & their Rx.
    To make available non-branded quality generic drugs at affordable prices via public-private partnership.
    To inspire doctors, more specifically in government hospital to Rx generic drugs.
    To enable substantial savings in health care, especially for poor patients & those suffering from chronic
    illness and needful long periods of drug use.

    India, World Bank sign $250 million MoU to boost rural income on - 5th March 2019

    The Indian Government on March 5th, 2019 inked a $250 million loan MoU with the World Bank for the
    National Rural Economic Transformation Project that intends to assist females in rural households shift to a new generation of economic initiatives by emerging viable enterprise for farm & non-farm products.
    Important Highlights 

    • The National Rural Economic Transformation project is extra financing to the $500 million National Rural Livelihoods Project sanctioned by the World Bank in July 2011.  
    • The National Rural Livelihoods Project, which is presently being implemented across 13 states, 162 districts & 575 blocks, has achieved to mobilise above 8.8 million females from poor rural households into 750000 SHGs 
    • These Self-Help Groups have been further amalgamated into 48700 village organisations & 2,900 cluster & gram panchayat-level alliances.  
    • While these 13 states will continue to be maintained under the new National Rural Economic
      Transformation project, 125 new districts will be supplemented from within these states. 
    • The National Rural Livelihoods Mission goals to alleviate rural poverty & create sustainable livelihood options in rural communities by encouraging sustainable community-based institutions which will enable economic & financial services for the rural poor.
    • The $250 million loan MoU has a five years grace period & a final maturity of 20 years.

    Women to get Permanent Commission in -Indian Armed Forces

    The Union Ministry of Defence has taken steps to make sure permanent commission to female officers in the Indian Armed Forces, executing the announcement made regarding the same by PM Narendra Modi on August 15th, 2018.
    Indian Air Force
    All branches of the Indian Air Force, including the position of fighter pilots, are now open for female
    officers. 
    Indian Navy
    All non-sea going branches, cadre/specialisation have been opened for the initiation of female officers via SSC.
    In addition to education, law & naval constructor branch & cadre, females Short Service Commission
    officers have been eligible for approval of Permanent Commission in the Naval Armament branch, at par
    with the male officers.
    The suggestion for induction of 3 new training ships for the Indian Navy is presently underway. This will
    deliver the requisite infrastructure for training of both male & female officers.
    The Indian Navy will begin inducting females in all branches, once the training ships are in-place.
    Indian Army
    Female officers have been sanctioned permanent commission in the Indian Army in all the 10 branches
    where females are inducted for SSC.
    Hence, besides the existing 2 streams of Judge Advocate General & Army Education Corps, permanent
    commission will now be sanctioned to female officers in signals, engineers, army aviation, army air
    defence, electronics & mechanical engineers, army service corps, army ordinance corps & Intelligence.

    Home Ministry launched smart fencing on Indo-Bangladesh border to deter illegal infiltration on - 5th March 2019

    Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on March 5th, 2019 released smart fencing under the Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System along the Indo-Bangladesh border in Dhubri district of Assam to prevent illegal infiltration.

    2 pilot projects covering about 71 kilometres on Indo-Pakistan Border (about 10 Kilometres) & Indo-
    Bangladesh Border (about 61 kilometres) of Comprehensive Integrated Border Management System have been finished.
    Important Highlights 

    • The smart fencing project- Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique, has been
      executed along the riverine border at Dhubri, as it was not feasible to build border fencing. 
    • The 61 kms of border area in Dhubri where River Brahmaputra enters into Bangladesh comprises vast char lands & innumerable river channels thus making border guarding challenging task, especially during rainy season.
    • To address the issue, the Home Ministry finalised to use technological solutions to improve capabilities of manpower of BSF deployed on the ground. 
    • As a result, these 2 pilot projects were undertaken under the CIBMS.

    Malaysia joins the International Criminal Court  by approving  the - Rome Statue making

    Malaysia has approved the Rome Statute making it the 124th State party to the International Criminal
    Court. Even though Malaysia had assisted to negotiate the Rome Statute, it has been long been unwilling to ratify it. Approval after 20 years is seen as a welcome initiative.
    Reason
    The downing of flight MH17 & the Rohingya crisis have engrossed Malaysia’s attention on the
    International Criminal Court.
    After the election of Mahathir Mohamad for his 2nd stint as PM in May 2018, there has been a significant
    shift in the ties between the Malaysian government & monarchy. The earlier unwillingness to ratify the
    Rome Statute has largely stemmed from a concern that the King, as the head of the armed forces could be held accountable for crimes committed by those under his command Mahathir’s ties with the Sultans & the King is notoriously tense. During his 1st period as PM from 1981-2003, Mahathir ‘exposed the sultans of their power to veto state & federal legislation’, removed their legal immunities, & recognized a special court to prosecute royal cases.
    The election of Mahathir & selection of a new Attorney General, Tommy Thomas, has seen the main legal difficulties to ratification removed.
    The ratification has also curtailed from ambition to see Malaysia playing a much active role in ASEAN &
    the UN.

    India nominates Ramesh Chand to head - Food & Agriculture Organisation

    India has selected member of Niti Ayog, Ramesh Chandra to lead Food & Agricultural Organisation.
    Ramesh Chand’s candidature is challenged by Qu Dongyu of China, Medi Moungui of Cameroon,
    Catherine Geslain-Laneelle of France & Davit Kirvalidze of Georgia.
    To get elected to the position of Director-General of Food & Agricultural Organisation, the candidate
    requires to secure a simple majority of the 194 members. The only Indian to head the Food & Agricultural Organisation is Binay Ranjan Sen, who was the Director-General from 1956-1967.
    Food & Agriculture Organisation

    The Food & Agriculture Organization is a specialized agency of the UN which leads international efforts
    to defeat hunger. Food & Agricultural Organisation goals to achieve food security for all & ensure that
    people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead healthy lives.
    FAO was recognized as the specialised agency in 1945 at the 1st session of the UN & the temporary HQs of the Food & Agricultural Organisation was situated at Washington in the United States & the HQ was moved to Rome, Italy in the year 1951. Priority areas of Food & Agricultural Organisation in the fight against hunger are:
    Assist eradicate hunger, food insecurity & malnutrition.
    Make agriculture, forestry & fisheries more productive & sustainable.
    Diminish rural poverty.
    Permit inclusive & efficient agricultural & food systems.
    Upsurge the resilience of livelihoods to threats & crises.

    Who has been appointed as the director-general of the National Archives of India ? - P V Ramesh

    The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet has sanctioned the selection of P.V.Ramesh selected as the
    Director-General of the National Archives of India. Presently, he is working as the Chairman & Managing Director of Rural Electrification Corporation.
    National Archives of India

    • The genesis of National Archives of India can be drawn to the traced to the report of Sandeman, the Civil Auditor who had stressed the necessity of relieving the offices of congestion by the devastation of the papers of routine nature & transmission of all valuable accounts to a “Grand Central Archive”.
    • In 1889 Professor G.W. Forrest of Elphinstone College, Bombay commended the job of examining the accounts of the Foreign Department of the Government of India made a strong plea for relocating all accounts of the administration of East India Company to a Central Repository.
      This directed to the formation of Imperial Accounts Department on 11th March 1891 in the Imperial Secretariat Building at Calcutta/Kolkata.
    • Following the Independence, the government of India rechristened IRD as the National Archives of India with Director of Archives as its leader & in the year 1990 the office of the Director of Archives was re-designated as Director General of Archives.

    Justice SA Bobde selected as NALSA Executive Chairman by - President Ram Nath Kovind 

    President Ram Nath Kovind has selected Justice S.A.Bobde of the Supreme Court as Executive Chairman of National Legal Services Authority. The position is presently held by Justice AK Sikri who is due to retire on 6th March.
    National Legal Services Authority
    The NALSA is a statutory body founded under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987 to deliver free
    Legal Services to the weaker sections of the society.
    National Legal Services Authority fulfils the provisions under the Article 39A of the constitution which
    delivers for free legal help to the poor & weaker sections of the society, to encourage justice on the basis
    of equal opportunity.
    The CJI is the Patron-in-Chief & the Senior most Judge of the Supreme Court of India is the Executive
    Chairman of the Authority.
    Objectives of NALSA

    To legally authorize the marginalized & excluded groups of the society by delivering effective legal
    representation, legal literacy & awareness & bridging the gap between the legally available profits & the
    entitled recipients.
    To fortify the system of Lok Adalats & other Alternate Dispute Resolution mechanisms in order to deliver for the informal, quick, low-cost & effective resolution of arguments & minimize the load of adjudication on the overburdened judiciary.
    National Legal Services Authority identifies specific categories of the marginalized & omitted groups
    from the diverse populace of the nation & articulates various schemes for the execution of preventive &
    strategic legal service programs to be undertaken & executed by the Legal Services Authorities at the
    various levels.