25 Jul 2022: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Living conditions of the Scheduled Tribes (STs)
2. Medical and Wellness tourism
3. Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP)
4. Compressed Biogas

1. Living conditions of the Scheduled Tribes (STs)

Syllabus: Indian society and diversity – Salient aspects.

Prelims: Tribal Sub-plan

Mains: Empowerment of STs in India

Context: As per the data from the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS) conducted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,  there have been considerable improvements in the lives of Scheduled Tribes (ST). 

NFHS Data: 2005-06 vs 2019-21 

• Infant Mortality Rate has declined from 62.1 to 41.6, 
• Under Five Mortality Rate has declined from 95.7 to 50.3,
• Institutional Delivery has increased from 17.7% to 82.3 % and
• Immunization of children aged 12-23 months has increased from 31.3 %  to 76.8 %.

Other signs of improvement:

• The literacy rate has improved from 47.1% in 2001 to 59% in 2011.
• The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation’s Periodic Labour Force Survey report (2020-21) reveals that the literacy rate for STs increased to 71.6 %.

Government initiatives for the overall development of tribal people across the country:

• Tribal Sub-Plan
• Schedule Tribe Component 
• Development Action Plan for STs (DAPST) 

Read more on the economic empowerment of STs.

2. Medical and Wellness tourism

Syllabus: Gs2- Government policies and Interventions

Prelims: Medical Visa

Mains: Promotion of medical tourism in India

Context: Recently, the Union Tourism Ministry has formulated a National Strategy and Roadmap for Medical and Wellness Tourism.

What is medical and wellness tourism?

• It is a practice of traveling across international borders for the purpose of maintaining, improving or restoring health through medical intervention.

National strategy document:

• It is aimed at creating a strong framework and cooperation amongst the Union government and State Governments and the Private Sector for promoting India as a Medical Value Travel (MVT) and Wellness destination.
• The Ministry has constituted a National Medical and Wellness Tourism Board with the Hon’ble Tourism Minister as its chairman in order to provide a dedicated institutional framework to take forward the cause of the promotion of Medical Tourism.

Document focuses on the following key pillars:

• Governance and Institutional Framework
• Enhancement of accessibility for Medical Value Travel
• Develop a brand for India as a wellness destination
• Enable digitalization by setting up Online Medical Value Travel (MVT) Portal
• Strengthen the ecosystem for medical and wellness tourism
• Promoting Wellness Tourism

Advantages of India as a favourable destination:

• Most of the health sector professionals like surgeons and doctors here are trained or have worked at some of the institutions in Europe, the U.S. or other developed nations.
  • They are fluent in English. 
• Globally accredited medical and diagnostic equipment is available at many Indian hospitals.
• Almost 1000 recognized nurses-training centres are present in India, mostly attached to teaching hospitals and nearly 10,000 nurses graduate every year.
• India is a budget-friendly destination compared to other countries with luxury amenities.

3. Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP)

Syllabus: Indian Economy– Inclusive growth and associated issues/challenges

Prelims: RAMP scheme

Mains: Significance of the MSME sector in the Indian economy

Context: The Government of India has launched a central sector scheme Raising and Accelerating MSME Performance (RAMP) scheme with the support of the World Bank.

Details:

• The objective of the scheme is to assist several Resilience and Recovery Interventions of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
• The program will also seek to enhance the implementation capacity, employment opportunities and MSME coverage in States.
• Interventions under the RAMP programme include,
  • Access to technology and credit,
  • Increasing access of MSMEs to market,
  • Inclusion of the service sector, gender and greening initiatives,
  • Increasing outreach to more MSMEs.
• An important component of RAMP is the preparation of Strategic Investment Plans (SIPs), in which all states/UTs will be invited.
• The programme is in line with the recommendations made by the K V Kamath Committee and  U K Sinha Committee.
• It will be implemented over a period of 5 years.
• The RAMP programme will be monitored by an apex National MSME Council headed by the Minister for MSME.

Read more on MSME Sector.

4. Compressed Biogas

Syllabus: GS3 – Environmental pollution and degradation

Prelims: SATAT Initiative

Mains: Government interventions to address environmental pollution

Context: 35 CBG/biogas plants have been commissioned so far under the SATAT initiative.

Details:

• “Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation (SATAT)” initiative was launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to establish an ecosystem for the production of Compressed Biogas (CBG) from various waste/biomass sources and for promoting its use along with Natural Gas.

Read more on the SATAT initiative.

Read previous PIB here.

July 25th, 2022, PIB:- Download PDF Here