01 November 2019: PIB Summary & Analysis

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November 1st, 2019 PIB:- Download PDF Here

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Prime Minister greets the people of Chattisgarh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, 
Haryana on their formation day.
2. Coal India to produce one billion tonne of coal by 2024
3. UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN)
4. Raksha Mantri pays Homage to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent
5. 7th INDIA - US Economic and Financial Partnership meeting
6. Three Apps developed by Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) launched
7. Online Hackathon on Data-driven Innovation for Citizen Grievance Redressal

Prime Minister greets the people of Chattisgarh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana on their formation day.

Context:

The states of Chattisgarh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Haryana celebrated their formation day on the 1^st of November.

Details:

• Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala were recognised as Indian states on 1^st of November in the year 1956.
• On 1^st of November 1966, the state of Haryana was carved out of Punjab. This day is celebrated as state day by both the Punjab and Haryana.
• The state of Chhattisgarh was created on November 1, 2000.

Coal India to produce one billion tonne of coal by 2024

Context:

Coal India Limited (CIL) celebrated its 45^th Foundation Day. It is a state-controlled coal mining company, headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. It is one of the largest coal producing companies in the world.

Details:

• Minister of Coal & Mines has said that the CIL will produce 750 million tonnes of coal by the Financial Year 2020-21 and would further produce one billion tonne of coal in the financial year 2023-24.
• The CIL is currently given the target of producing 660 million tonnes of coal amounting to 82% of the country’s coal output.

Policy reforms introduced in the sector:

Several policy reforms have been introduced in the sector considering steeply rising demand for power supply. They are:

• e-auction for allocation of captive coal blocks.
• Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India (SHAKTI). The scheme ensures transparent Coal Allocation Policy for Power Sector.
• Third party sampling of coal.
• Re-gradation of coal mines.
• The government recently announced 100% FDI under automatic route in coal sector. It is believed to be one of the much-needed structural reforms in the sector, which would minimize the volume of coal import.

UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN)

Context:

UNESCO has designated Mumbai as a member of UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) in the field of FILM and Hyderabad in the field of GASTRONOMY, on the occasion of World Cities Day 2019.

Details:

• By joining the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN), the cities pledge to share their best practices and develop partnerships involving public and private sectors as well as civil society to strengthen creation, production, distribution and dissemination of cultural activities, goods and services.
• The network covers seven creative fields: crafts and folk arts, media arts, film, design, gastronomy, literature and music.
• Previously, 3 Indian cities were recognized as members of UCCN, namely- Jaipur-Crafts and Folk Arts (2015), Varanasi-Creative city of Music (2015), Chennai-Creative city of Music(2017).
• Ministry of Culture is the nodal Ministry of Government of India for all matters in UNESCO relating to culture.

UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN):

• The UCCN, created in 2004, is a network of cities which are thriving, active centres of cultural activities in their respective countries.
• The UNESCO Creative Cities Network now counts a total of 246 cities.
• The member cities that form part of the Network come from all continents and regions with different income levels and populations.

They work together towards a common mission: placing creativity and the creative economy at the core of their urban development plans to make cities safe, resilient, inclusive and sustainable, in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Raksha Mantri pays Homage to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri in Tashkent

Context:

The defence minister (Raksha Mantri) is on an official visit to Uzbekistan to attend a key meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and participate in bilateral engagements with the Uzbekistan government.

Details:

• Raksha Mantri paid tributes to former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri at his statue at Shastri street in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.
• Shastri Ji breathed his last in Tashkent on January 11, 1966 a day after the Tashkent Agreement was signed between India and Pakistan post 1965 War.

Read more about the Tashkent Declaration. Click here.

Read more about the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Click Here.

7th INDIA – US Economic and Financial Partnership meeting

Context:

The 7th India – US Economic and Financial partnership meeting was held in New Delhi.

Details:

• The meeting was co-chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and US Secretary of Treasury Steven T Mnuchin.
• The Seventh Meeting of the India-U.S. Economic and Financial Partnership is meant to deepen the economic partnership between the two countries as a framework, commensurate with the growing importance of economic relations and significant business and cultural ties that already exist between the two nations.
• During meeting both sides took stock of the efforts undertaken to further improve mutual cooperation on a wide range of multilateral subjects including anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism.
• India and the United States discussed policies to stimulate economic growth and noted the significant steps India has taken to strengthen the financial sector, including Public Sector Bank recapitalization and plans to merge some of the state-owned banks.
• Both sides also discussed capital flows, investment promotion related issues, and the external economic environment.
• Both sides are committed to greater economic cooperation on global economic issues, both bilaterally and multilaterally in the G20 and other fora.
• India and the United States look forward to enhanced collaboration to address the challenges to global growth under the G20 Presidency of Saudi Arabia.
• As India gears up for the 2022 Presidency of the G20, the United States stands ready to support India in hosting a successful and focused Presidency.
• The United States and India recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation, coordination, consultation and exchange of information relating to the Regulation of the Insurance Sector.
• India has set up the National Infrastructure and Investment Fund (NIIF) to catalyze private institutional investment in Indian infrastructure, for which the United States has provided technical support.
• The United States helped the Indian city of Pune successfully launch municipal bonds in 2017 to finance local infrastructure needs to support the government’s Smart Cities initiative.

Three Apps developed by Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) launched

Context:

On the 67^th Foundation Day of EPFO, 3 Apps: Uan Registration, E-Inspection and DIGI Locker to Benefit EPF Subscribers and Stakeholders were launched.

Details:

• Online Facility for UAN generation by worker:
  • Any workers can obtain Universal Account Number (UAN) directly on EPFO website which enrolls them for PF, Pension and Life Insurance benefits.
  • This is in the direction of ease of living and ensuring universal social security.
• EPS Pensioner’s PPO in DigiLocker Application (APP)
  • EPFO integrates with DigiLocker of National e-Governance Division to create depository of electronic Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) which is accessible to individual pensioners.
  • This is a move towards paperless system and ease of living for pensioners.
• e-Inspections:
  • It is the Digital interface of EPFO with employers.
  • The E-Inspection Form would be available in user login of employers not filing ECR which enables employer to inform either closure of business or unpaid dues with proposal for payment.
  • It will nudge employers for compliant behavior and prevent undue harassment of non-willful defaulters and eliminate inspector raj.

Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO):

• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation, is an organization tasked to assist the Central Board of Trustees, a statutory body formed by the Employees’ Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.
• It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• It is the biggest social security organization of the world covering around six crore active members and 65 lakh pensioners and maintaining around 22 crore accounts of workers with a fund of approximately 13 lakh crore.

Online Hackathon on Data-driven Innovation for Citizen Grievance Redressal

Context:

Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is going to launch a nation-wide online Hackathon ‘Data-driven Innovation for Citizen Grievance Redressal’

Details:

• DARPG has decided to conduct this online Hackathon for inviting innovative solutions for the Citizen Grievance Redressal Mechanism. The basic objective is to provide technology driven solutions to improve the grievance redressal mechanism in the country.
• This will engage young minds of the country from student, start-ups, corporate, innovators, researchers, academia and other communities.

It aims at:

• Creating a Chatbot that will help the Citizens to resolve their common queries related to filing a Grievance in the CPGRAMS portal and expediting smooth submission of grievances.
• Making the redressal process more robust and data-driven to reduce the Grievance submission and resolution lifecycle. Technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) could be used.
• Improvising the quality of public grievance disposals for greater satisfaction of citizens.
• Creating predictive models using datasets to smooth the Grievance redressal mechanism.

Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) of DARPG:

• The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DAR&PG), is the nodal agency of the Government of India in-charge of policy making, monitoring and coordinating departments for public grievances.
• Centralized Public Grievance Redress And Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) is an online web-enabled system over NICNET (satellite-based nation-wide computer-communication network) developed by NIC.
• CPGRAMS is the platform based on web technology which primarily aims to enable submission of grievances by the aggrieved citizens from anywhere and anytime – (24×7) basis to Ministries/Departments/Organizations/State Governments who scrutinize and take action for speedy and favourable redressal of these grievances.

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