13 Oct 2022: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. PM-Gati Shakti (First Anniversary)
2. Indo-US VAP (Vaccine Action Programme)
3. Grameen Udyami Project
4. Exercise Prasthan

1. PM-Gati Shakti (First Anniversary)

Syllabus – GS 2, Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors.

Prelims – PM-Gati Shakti and LEADS, 2022

Context – National Workshop on PM-GatiShakti National Master Plan.

Details –

• Shri Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister for Commerce and Industries addressed the national workshop on PM-Gati Shakti National Master Plan. The workshop focussed on the achievements made by PM GatiShakti. The minister said that the National Master Plan has the capacity to save over Rs 10 lakh crore annually by improving logistics efficiency.
• The PM-Gati Shakti is being increasingly used in the social sector for better infrastructure development and the benefits of the technology are being reaped by the citizens of the country thereby improving the ease of life for the common man.
• Linking PM-GatiShakti with the scheme PM-DevINE would help in utilising resources efficiently for the development of the North East Region (NER).
  • Prime Ministers Development Initiative for North East Region (PM-DevINE) is a centrally sponsored scheme to address the developmental gaps in the northeast region. 
• On this occasion, the LEADS (Logistics Ease Across Different States), 2022 survey report was launched. 
  • The LEADS report is aimed at gauging the logistics performance of states and Union Territories (UT) and identifying areas where they can improve logistics performance. It was launched in 2018.
• LEADS 2022 has adopted a classification-based grading, states have been now classified under four categories viz coastal states, hinterland/landlocked states, north-eastern states, and Union Territories.

Three performance categories have been made-

1. Achievers – states/UTs achieving 90% or more.
2. Fast Movers – between 80% – 90%.
3. Aspirers – below 80%.

• The LEADS 2022 survey report would help PM GatiShakti National Master Plan (PMGS-NMP) and National Logistics Policy (NLP) to perform a network mapping of logistics infrastructure, services, and regulatory environment enabling States to identify and fill the gaps and achieve data-driven multimodal connectivity. 

2. Indo-US VAP (Vaccine Action Programme)

Syllabus – GS 3, Science & Technology.

Prelims – Bilateral Collaborative Programme – Indo-US VAP.

Context – 34th Meeting of the Joint Working Group of the Indo-US VAP.

About Indo-US VAP –

• The Indo-US Vaccine Action Programme (VAP), is an internationally recognized flagship programme of the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), being implemented jointly with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, since 1987.
• VAP is a unique bilateral programme with an aim to support novel and innovative vaccine related research, accelerated development of candidate vaccines for which earlier leads are available, research of basic & applied nature to improvise our current understanding of vaccine science to strengthen the scientific basis for future vaccine design and to strengthen vaccine development ecosystem.

Details –

• The 34th meeting of the Joint Working Group (JWG) was held on the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. Five-year extension to the programme till 2027 has been accorded.
• There is a practice of organising a “Rama-Robbins lecture” in remembrance of late Prof. V. Ramalingaswami, former National Professor and late Prof. Fred Robbins, former Chairman of VAP JWG from the U.S. side. The Rama-Robbins lecture was delivered by Dr Anthony Fauci (Chief Medical Advisor to the US President) on “Pandemic Preparedness and lessons from COVID-19.

3. Grameen Udyami Project

Syllabus – GS 2, Welfare Schemes.

Prelims – Grameen Udyami Project – Skill development project for tribal communities.

Context – Second phase of the Grameen Udyami Project

Details –

• The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE) felicitated 165 students under the second phase of the Grameen Udyami Project, a National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) funded initiative.
• The second phase of the pilot project was launched in Ranchi in August 2022 and implemented by the Yuva Vikas Society, through Seva Bharti Kendra. NCDS under the MSDE has supported in setting up labs and class-rooms through Sector Skill Councils (SSCs) in Seva Bharti Kendra Skill Development Centre. 

About Grameen Udyami Project –

• Grameen Udyami is a unique multiskilling project, funded by NSDC that aims to train 450 tribal students in Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand. The project is being implemented in six states— Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Gujarat. This concept was crystallised by MoS, Shri. Rajeev Chandrasekhar and tribal MPs.
• In the first phase of training, candidates were mobilised from rural and tribal areas of Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat. 
  • Since candidates were mobilised from the rural areas, transportation, boarding & lodging was provided to candidates so that they do not miss out the training opportunity due to lack of resources.

4. Exercise Prasthan

Syllabus – GS 3, Security challenges and their management.

Prelims – Prasthan Exercise

Context – Exercise Prasthan conducted in the Krishna-Godavari Basin Offshore Development Area (ODA).

Details –

• Prasthan – an offshore security exercise was conducted in the Eastern ODA under Eastern Naval Command.
• Led by the Navy, the exercise saw participation from the various oil operators, like ONGC, RIL, Vedanta, and other stakeholders in the domain of maritime security including AP Marine Police, AP fisheries department and the Coast Guard.
• Prasthan is conducted every six months to ensure offshore security and to integrate the efforts of all maritime stakeholders involved in offshore defence.
• Contingencies such as terrorist intrusion, bomb explosion, casualty evacuation, man overboard, major fire, oil spill, search and rescue, and mass evacuation were exercised.

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