06 March 2020: PIB Summary & Analysis

March 6th, 2020 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. AYUSH Grid
2. Steps taken to encourage the use of Ayurveda at the international level
3. Ayurvedic Classification of Diseases
4. Jan Aushadhi Diwas
5. Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojna (PMBJP)
6. Competition Commission of India
7. Elephant deaths by train accidents showing a declining trend
8. SAKSHAM portal
9. Special Gram Sabhas and Mahila Sabhas in Gram Panchayats
10. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)
11. Genome India
12. Kishori Health Cards
13. One Stop Centre Scheme
14. Schemes for Welfare of Women
15. Poshan Abhiyaan
16. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

1. AYUSH Grid

What’s in News?

The Ministry of AYUSH has initiated steps to set up a nationwide digital platform called “AYUSH GRID”.

• AYUSH GRID aims to bring on board, all AYUSH facilities including hospitals and laboratories and to promote traditional systems of healthcare.
• AYUSH GRID Project has been conceptualised for digitalization of the entire AYUSH Sector.

Other initiatives of the AYUSH Ministry:

• Currently, Ministry has launched Pilot Projects like AYUSH Hospital Information Management System (A-HMIS), Tele-Medicine, Yogaloctaor Application, Bhuvan Application, Yoga Portal, Case Registry Portal, etc.
• These projects will be co-opted in AYUSH GRID Project in future.

Note:

• Ministry of AYUSH has also proposed to establish 12,500 AYUSH centres across the country for traditional system of healthcare and medicines.

2. Steps taken to encourage the use of Ayurveda at the international level

• Ministry of AYUSH through Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) offers 104 scholarships every year to the eligible foreign nationals from 98 countries for pursuing undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG) and Ph. D courses in premier Institutes in India.
• Ministry of AYUSH has signed 23 Country to Country MoUs for cooperation in field of Traditional Medicine and Homoeopathy
• 22 MoUs have been signed for undertaking collaborative research in AYUSH systems of medicine with various foreign universities to conclusively prove the benefits of Ayurveda.
• 13 MoUs for setting up AYUSH Academic Chairs have been signed with foreign institutes.
• Ministry of AYUSH has set up 33 AYUSH Information Cell in 31 countries to disseminate authentic information about AYUSH systems of Medicine.
• Under Central Sector Scheme for promotion of International Cooperation, (IC Scheme), the Ministry of AYUSH undertakes various measures:
  • To promote & propagate AYUSH systems of medicine across the globe.
  • To encourage the use of Ayurveda at the international level.
  • To increase the acceptability of Ayurveda on a global stage through research, testing, and/or information dissemination.
• Ministry of AYUSH deputes AYUSH experts to foreign countries to participate in international meetings, conferences, training programmes, seminars and on special assignment of the Government of India for promotion and propagation of AYUSH Systems.
• Financial assistance is also provided for presentation of AYUSH related scientific research papers in international conferences, workshops, seminar etc.
• There is a provision of financial support up to Rs. 1 Crore for strengthening of Health Centre(s)/ Institution(s) in the foreign host country.

3. Ayurvedic Classification of Diseases

• The Ministry of AYUSH has developed National Ayurveda Morbidity Codes (NAMC).
• NAMC is a comprehensive classification of diseases described in Ayurveda as well as Standardized Ayurveda Terminologies.
• These have been made available on National AYUSH Morbidity and Standardized Terminologies Electronic Portal (NAMASTE Portal) developed by the Ministry.
• For standardization of Ayurvedic diagnostic and treatment protocol, the Central Council of Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS) under Ministry of AYUSH had undertaken a project on Reliability testing and Validation of Ayurveda diagnostic methods in June 2018.
  • Under this project, some common disease condition have been identified and accordingly the Proforma and manual of selected disease conditions is being drafted and validated through scientific methods in  phased manner.

4. Jan Aushadhi Diwas

What’s in News?

Jan Aushadhi Diwas will be celeberated on 7^th march 2020.

• The Jan aushadhi Divas aims to provide further impetus and create awareness about the use of generic medicines.
• The day will also highlight the initiative undertaken by Government in the direction of making quality healthcare for all, like Ayushman Bharat, PMBJY, etc.

Read more about Ayushman Bharat

5. Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Jan Aushadhi Pariyojna (PMBJP)

• The Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi Pariyojna was launched by Prime Minister with an objective of making high-quality medicines available to all at affordable prices, especially to the poor and underprivileged, through exclusive outlets of Jan Aushadhi Medical Stores.
• It is a noble initiative by Department of Pharmaceuticals which is now making an impact on masses in its endeavour to provide quality medicines at an affordable price.
• Jan Aushadhi Kendra is considered as the biggest retail pharma chain in the world.

 Read more about PMBJP

6. Competition Commission of India

What’s in News?

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) organised the Fifth National Conference on Economics of Competition Law.

• The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is a statutory body of the Government of India.
• The Commission is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 throughout India.
• It is also responsible for the prevention of adverse effects on competition in India.

Read more about Competition Commission of India

7. Elephant deaths by train accidents showing a declining trend

What’s in News?

According to the Minister of State in the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, the elephant deaths by train accidents has been reducing in the recent years, owing to concerted efforts taken by the Central and State Governments.

The preventive measures undertaken include the following:

1. Imposition of permanent and temporary speed restrictions in identified elephant corridors.
2. Provision of signage board to warn loco pilots about identified elephant corridors.
3. Sensitization of train crew and Station Masters on a regular basis.
4. Need based clearance of vegetation on the sides of track within railway land.
5. Construction of underpasses and ramps for movement of elephants at identified locations.
6. Installation of Honey Bee sound system to scare away the elephants from coming near the track.
7. Provision of fencing at isolated locations both by Railway and Forest Department.
8. Frequent coordination meetings between the State Forest Department and Railway department.

8. SAKSHAM portal

What’s in News?

To mark the occasion of the lnternational Women’s Day, 2020, Union Minister for Human Resource Development launched the SAKSHAM portal.

• The SAKSHAM portal aims towards empowerment of women in campuses through creating awareness on the existing opportunities and initiatives, support and redressal mechanism.
• The web resources (Government and United Nations policy documents) are made available to women students and employees of Higher Education Institutions through the portal.
• It brings together information on all women-oriented initiatives.
• It also provides a platform for registering complaints related to violence and harassment through a National helpline number.

9. Special Gram Sabhas and Mahila Sabhas in Gram Panchayats

What’s in News?

The Centre has directed all States and Union Territories to organise Special Gram Sabhas and Mahila Sabhas (Women’s Assemblies) in all Gram Panchayats on March 8, 2020 to mark International Women’s Day.

International Women’s day:

• International Women’s Day is celebrated on the 8th of March every year. It is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women.
• The theme this year will be “Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Right”.

Details:

• The Gram Sabhas will hold discussions on “Poshan Panchayat”, land rights, education, safety, reproductive health and equal opportunity.
• The Special Gram Sabhas will focus on issues such as:
  • Ban on sex determination tests and celebrating birth of a girl child.
  • Pre-natal and neo-natal care, immunization and nutrition for all women.
  • Ensuring every girl child receives due care, nutrition and immunisation.
  • Encouraging girls to go to schools and complete their schooling with focus on safe environment at home and in school.
  • Ban on child marriage.
  • Reporting violence, abuse or injustice against women and girl children.
  • Ensuring active participation of elected women representatives in Gram Panchayats and their contribution to decision making.
  • Encouraging women to participate in Gram Sabhas.

Panchayati Raj Institutions:

• The role of Panchayati Raj Institutions is very important in strengthening community mobilization and working as a catalyst for behavioural change in the community.
• The 73^rdConstitutional Amendment provided autonomy to rural local governments and brought governance closer to people.
• Significantly, the amendment ushered in feminization of local governance by mandating 33.3% reservation for women in Panchayats at all decision-making levels.
• Going a step further, so far 20 States have enacted legislation to raise women’s reservation to 50% in Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
  • As a result, out of the 30.41 lakh elected representatives of PRIs, 13.74 lakh (45.2%) are elected women, some of them from socially disadvantaged groups and are in leadership positions.

Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP):

• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj framed the Gram Panchayat Development Plan (GPDP) for integrated development planning at the Gram Panchayat level to focus on the community’s needs and priorities.
• Some of the key aspects of GPDP guidelines, as revised in the year 2018, that are relevant to Women Empowerment include:
  • Proactive participation of women in budgeting, planning, implementation and monitoring of GPDP
  • Convening Mahila Sabhas prior to the general Gram Sabhas.
  • Inclusion of women in Gram Sabhas.
• All these are part of the Vision Document-2024 of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj that focusses on capacitating the Elected Representatives in sectoral areas to make them the Agents of Change.

10. Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

What’s in News?

Petroleum and Natural Gas & Steel has said that Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) has been one of the biggest achievements towards women empowerment in independent India.

Details:

• With the introduction of the scheme, LPG coverage has increased from 55% to 97.4%.
• Household pollution which is a health hazard, has been curbed with the availability of safe and environment friendly LPG fuel to poor women of the society.
• The scheme has acted as one of the biggest catalyst of socio-economic change in the status of women in the country.

Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana:

• The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) is a government scheme launched in 2016.
• The scheme envisages the distribution of 50 million LPG connections to women below the poverty line.

Read more about Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana and Pradhan Mantri LPG Panchayat.

11. Genome India

What’s in News?

‘Genome India: Cataloguing the Genetic Variation in Indians’ project has been sanctioned by Department of Biotechnology (DBT) for a period of 3 years to 20 institutions from varied disciplines across the country.

What is a Genome?

• A genome is an organism’s complete set of DNA, including all its genes.
• It contains all the information needed to build and maintain that organism.
• By sequencing the genome, researchers can discover the functions of genes and identify which of them are critical for life.

Details:

• The proposed target of Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) is to do it for total 10,000 individuals representing the country’s diverse population in 3 years.
• The information generated from whole genome sequencing can facilitate future human genetics research in the country with greater precision, and help to design a genome wide association array for the Indian population to develop precision healthcare and diagnostics for major diseases at affordable costs.
• The Genome India project will aim to make predictive diagnostic markers available for some priority diseases such as cancer and other rare and genetic disorders.
• It is a move that will help researchers get closer to developing effective therapies for treating various diseases.

Concerns:

• There are concerns over the use of genetic data.
• Some of the red lines raised are genetic engineering, use of genomic data to differentiate groups within society, and predictive insurance tests and targeted marketing.
  • There must be clear limits for how far the public thought genomic data and the information derived from it should be used.

De-identification:

• The data security and sharing measures for this project will be governed by the rules and regulations formulated by Government of India.
• The personal information of all individuals consenting to participate in the study is stripped off from any further records in this project.
• This process of de-identification ensures that the personal information of the participants is not compromised. Additionally, ethical measures are strictly adhered to in order to maintain data security and protection.

Genome sequencing in other countries:

• Several countries have embarked on mapping the genetic mark up of their own population to better understand disease profiles.
• UK said in 2013 that it will undertake the sequencing of 100,000 whole genomes of patients suffering from cancer and rare diseases.
  • The project was extended to 1 million in 2018.
  • Genomic England, the organisation that runs the programme, has said that its aim is to create a new genomic medicine service for the National Health Service – transforming the way people are cared for.

12. Kishori Health Cards

• Government is implementing Scheme for Adolescent Girls across the country.
• Currently, Government is maintaining the health records of adolescent girls through Kishori Health Cards.
• Kishori Health Cards are health cards for all Adolescent Girls (AGs) maintained at the Angawadi Centres (AWCs).
• They record the information about the weight, height, Body Mass Index (BMI) along with other services provided under the scheme.

Scheme for Adolescent Girls:

• The Adolescent Girls (AG) Scheme, implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development under Umbrella Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).
• The scheme primarily aims at breaking the inter-generational life-cycle of nutritional and gender disadvantage and providing a supportive environment for self-development.
• The key objective of the scheme is to facilitate, educate and empower AGs so as to enable them to become self-reliant and aware citizens.

13. One Stop Centre Scheme

• The One Stop Centre (OSC) Scheme is approved since 1^st April, 2015 by Government of India under Nirbhaya Fund, to be set up across the country for women affected by violence.
• The OSC scheme aims to provide for women affected by violence, a range of integrated services under one roof.
• The services include police facilitation, medical aid, psychological counselling, legal support and temporary shelter.
• Under the OSC Scheme, 100% funds are disbursed to districts for setting up and running of OSCs.

Read more about One Stop Centre Scheme.

14. Schemes for Welfare of Women

There are a number of Schemes being implemented by various Ministries of the Government of India through State Governments/UT Administrations which allocate and disburse funds for welfare and development of women in distress like aged single women, widows with no support as well as young women from very poor background. The major schemes of Government of India are as under:

Swadhar Greh Scheme:

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development implements Swadhar Greh Scheme.
• The scheme envisions a supportive institutional framework for women victims of difficult circumstances so that they could lead their life with dignity and conviction.

Home for Widows:

• A Home for Widows has been set up in Vrindavan, UP with a capacity of 1000 inmates to provide widows a safe and secure place of stay, health services, nutritious food, legal and counselling services.

Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS):

• The Ministry of Rural Development is implementing Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS) under which Pension Scheme for Widows as well as Pension Scheme for the Elderly below poverty line are operated.

The Mahila Shakti Kendra Scheme:

• The Mahila Shakti Kendra Scheme of Ministry of Women and Child Development aims to empower rural women through community participation and to create an environment in which they realize their full potential.

Prime Minister Awaas Yojana (PMAY-G):

• The Prime Minister AwaasYojana (PMAY-G) of Ministry of Rural Development and the Prime Minister AwaasYojana (PMAY-U) of the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs aims at providing affordable housing to women beneficiaries also.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana:

• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is implementing the “Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM)”, to reduce poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households by enabling them to access self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities.

15. Poshan Abhiyaan

• Government is implementing POSHAN Abhiyaan (earlier known as National Nutrition Mission) since 2017 to address the problem of malnutrition in the country.
• The Abhiyaan aims to reduce malnutrition in the country in a phased manner, through a life cycle approach, by adopting a synergised and result oriented approach.
• There is no separate target for different cities and metros.
• The goals of POSHAN Abhiyaan are to achieve improvement in nutritional status of Children from 0-6 years, Adolescent Girls, Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers, in a time bound manner three years with fixed targets as under:

Note:

As per the report of Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (CNNS) conducted by UNICEF, prevalence of stunting and underweight among children is 34.7% and 33.4% respectively, which is an improvement and reduction from the levels reported in National Family Health Survey-4, which were 38.4% and 35.7% respectively.

16. Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

• The Pradhan Mantri Matritva Vandana Yojana was launched in 2016 as a flagship maternity benefits programme of the Government of India.
• Earlier it was known as the Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojana.
• The scheme runs under the aegis of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• It is a Centrally Sponsored scheme.

Read more about Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana

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