12 Feb 2018 UPSC Exam PIB Summary Analysis

National Productivity Council

  • NPC is national level organization to promote productivity culture in India.
  • Established by the Ministry of Industry, Government of India in 1958, it is an autonomous, multipartite, non-profit organization with equal representation from employers’ & workers’ organizations and Government, apart from technical & professional institutions and other interests.
  • NPC is a constituent of the Tokyo-based Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), an Inter-Governmental Body, of which the Government of India is a founder member.
  • NPC teams up with its clients to work out solutions towards accelerating productivity, enhancing competitiveness, increasing profits, augmenting safety and reliability and ensuring better quality.
  • The National Productivity Council is observing National Productivity Day today, and National Productivity Week till 18th February.
  • It is the 60th Anniversary of the National Productivity Council and is being celebrated as Diamond Jubilee Year.
  • “Industry 4.0 Leapfrog Opportunity for India” has been selected as the theme for the National Productivity Week -2018.

Seven Garhwal Rifles Infantry Battalion Group Inducted in South Sudan

  • To support the United Nations efforts in bringing peace and normalcy in a war torn country of South Sudan, Indian Army is contributing approx 2300 personnel.
  • Seven Garhwal Rifles Infantry battalion group of the Indian Army is currently being inducted to South Sudan.
  • Garhwal Rifles Regiment, as troops hailing from the Garhwal region have been nominated for the first time to deploy in the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS).

Highway Capacity Manual

  • The Minister of Road Transport & Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari released India’s first ever Highway Capacity Manualin New Delhi today. 
  • The manual, known as Indo-HCM, has been developed by CSIR – CRRI on the basis of an extensive, country-wide study of the traffic characteristics  on different categories  of roads like single lane, two-lane, multi-lane urban roads,  inter-urban highways and  expressways and the associated intersections on these roads.
  • The study involved seven academic institutions including IITs at Roorkee, Mumbai and Guwahati, School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, Indian Institute of Engineering and Science and Technology, Shibpur, Sardar Vallabhai Patel National Institute of Technology, Surat and Anna University, Chennai.
  • The manual lays down guidelines for when and how to expand or manage different types of roads and their intersections and the level of services to be put in place. 
  • It is designed to be a useful tool for guiding road engineers and policy makers in the country.

Economic advisory council to the Prime Minister

  • The 4th meeting of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) was held on 12thFebruary 2018 under the chairmanship of Dr BibekDebroy, Chairman, EAC-PM & Member, NITI Aayog.

About EAC-PM

  • It is a non-constitutional, non-permanent and independent body constituted to give economic advice to the Government of India, specifically the Prime Minister.
  • The council serves to highlight key economic issues facing the country to the government of India from a neutral viewpoint. It advises the Prime Minister on a whole host of economic issues like inflation, microfinance, industrial output, etc.
  • Bibek Debroy is the current chairman of the current EAC.

To ace UPSC current affairs section, read more PIB articles here.

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