16 Mar 2023: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INS Dronacharya
2. Digi Yatra
3. Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)
4. India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline

1. INS Dronacharya

Syllabus: GS III, Security; Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate. 

Prelims: INS Dronacharya

Context

The President of India presented the President’s Colour to INS Dronacharya.

INS Dronacharya

• INS Dronacharya is the premier gunnery school of the Indian Navy.
• INS Dronacharya is located in Kochi, Kerala.
• Indian Navy’s Gunnery School which was established in 1948 became INS Dronacharya in 1978.
• INS Dronacharya is entrusted with the training of officers and sailors of the Navy, Coast Guard and friendly foreign maritime forces on all aspects of gunnery and missile warfare.
• INS Dronacharya has been designated as the Centre for Excellence in Gunnery and Missile Warfare since 2004.
• INS Dronacharya is also the nodal centre for training personnel for the Sagar Prahari Bal (Ocean Sentinel Force), which was set up in response to the 26/11 attacks and the Indian Navy’s constabulary operations in the maritime domain.
• Gunners trained at INS Dronacharya have played crucial roles in various naval operations since Independence such as Operation Trident (missile attacks on Karachi during the 1971 Indo-Pak War) and Operation Cactus (carried out during the 1988 Maldives coup d’état attempt).
• The President of India presented the President’s Colour to INS Dronacharya on March 16th, 2023 to recognise its glorious service.
  • The President’s Colour or the Nishan is regarded as the highest honour that the Supreme Commander, President of India, bestows on a unit for its exceptional service to the Nation.

2. Digi Yatra

Syllabus: GS II, Governance; Various e-governance applications and models

Prelims: About Digi Yatra Platform

Mains: Benefits of various e-governance models

Digi Yatra

• Digi Yatra is a Ministry of Civil Aviation initiative for biometric boarding using Facial Recognition Technology. 
• Digi Yatra is an industry-led initiative that involves a decentralised mobile-based ID storage platform using which travellers can save their IDs and travel documents.
  • The Ministry of Civil Aviation has confirmed that under Digi Yatra, passengers’ data is stored in their own devices and not in centralised storage.
• Digi Yatra project envisages providing a seamless and hassle-free experience for passengers at airports. 
• The key objective of the initiative is to improve passenger experience by eliminating the need for verification of tickets and ID at multiple touch points and to achieve better throughput through existing infrastructure using a digital framework.

Image Source: www.newdelhiairport.in

3. Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)

Syllabus: GS II, Governance; Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors 

Prelims: About Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)

Mains: Significance and benefits of PMEGP

Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)

• Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) is a major credit-linked subsidy scheme launched in September 2008 by merging two schemes namely Prime Minister’s Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) and Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP).
• PMEGP is a central sector scheme administered by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME).
• The scheme is implemented by the Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) functioning as the nodal agency at the national level. 
  • At the state level, the scheme is implemented through State KVIC Directorates, State Khadi and Village Industries Boards (KVIBs), District Industries Centres (DICs) and banks.
• Eligibility: Individuals above the age of 18 years, Self Help Groups (SHGs), Cooperative Societies involved in the production, and institutions that are registered under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 are eligible for benefits under this programme.
• Since its inception, over 8.58 lakh enterprises have been assisted creating a total estimated employment of around 70 lakhs.

Read more about – Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)

4. India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline

Syllabus: GS II, International Relations; India and its neighbourhood- relations.

Prelims: About India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline

Mains: India-Bangladesh Relations

Context

The Prime Minister of India and the Prime Minister of Bangladesh will inaugurate the India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline on the 18th of March 2023 via video conference.

India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline

Image Source: The Indian Awaaz

• The India-Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL) is the first-ever cross-border energy pipeline between India and Bangladesh.
• The Pipeline would carry diesel from Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Ltd’s (NRL) marketing terminal at Siliguri in West Bengal to the Parbatipur depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).
• The pipeline has been built at a cost of about 377 crore Rupees out of which the Bangladesh side of the pipeline cost around 285 crore Rupees which has been borne by the Government of India under grant assistance.
• The Pipeline has the capacity to transport 1 Million Metric Ton Per Annum (MMTPA) of High-Speed Diesel (HSD). 
• The key objective of India- Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline is to ensure a sustainable, reliable, cost-effective and environment-friendly mode of transporting HSD from India to Bangladesh and enhance cooperation in energy security between the two countries.
• The groundbreaking ceremony for the 130-km IBFPL was held in September 2018 in the presence of the Prime Ministers of both countries.

Read more about – RSTV- Big Picture: Indo-Bangladesh Connectivity & Economic Partnership

Also read – India-Bangladesh Relations

Read the previous PIB articles here.

March 16th, 2023, PIB:- Download PDF Here