MPLAD

• The Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) is an ongoing Central Sector Scheme which was launched in 1993-94.
• Objective: The Scheme enables the Members of Parliament to recommend works for creation of durable community assets based on locally felt needs to be taken up in their constituencies in the area of national priorities namely drinking water, education, public health, sanitation, roads etc.

Implementation:

• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation has been responsible for the policy formulation, release of funds and prescribing monitoring mechanism for implementation of the Scheme.
• Under this scheme, the funds are released in the form of grants in-aid directly to the district authorities on receipt of requisite documents and as per these guidelines.
• The funds released under the scheme are non-lapsable i.e. if the fund for particular work is not spent in that year, it will be carried forward to the subsequent years, subject to eligibility.

PRADHAN MANTRI JAN AROGYA YOJANA (PMJAY)

About PMJAY:

• PMJAY is government-sponsored health insurance scheme, that will provide free coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year in any government or private hospitals all over India.
• It will cover beneficiarie’s families identified on the basis of Socio-Economic Caste Survey (SECC) 2011 in 444 districts of 30 states/Union Territories.
• National Health Agency (NHA) is the apex body for implementing this scheme.
• States will be required to form State Health Agency (SHA) to implement scheme and at the district level also structure for its implementation will be set up.
• PMJAY will be funded with 60% contribution from Centre and remaining from the states
• There will be no cap on family size and age under this scheme.
• The benefit cover under it also includes Pre and Post-Hospitalisation expenses.
• Aadhaar is Not Mandatory.

LCA TEJAS

• Context: Fuel tank of ‘Tejas’ aircraft falls in agriculture field in Tamil Nadu.It is an Indian single-engine, delta wing, multirole light fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force and Indian Navy.
• It came from the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) programme, which began in the 1980s to replace India’s ageing MiG-21 fighters.
• It is pegged as the world’s smallest and lightest supersonic fighter aircraft in its class.
• In 2003, the LCA was officially named “Tejas”

KARTARPUR CORRIDOR

About the Project:

• The proposed project will connect the Dera Baba Nanak Sahib Gurdwara in India’s state of Punjab to the Gurdwara
• Darbar Sahib Kartarpur shrine in Narowal district of Pakistan’s Punjab province which is reportedly to be completed before the 550th anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev.
• It runs across the Ravi River.
• The Kartarpur Corridor, seeks to visa-free access from India to the shrine inside Pakistan.
• About Gurdwara: It was ordered by Maharaja of Patiala between 1921-1929 and is believed to be place where Nanak ji spent about last 18 years of his life.
• Government of India has decided to commemorate 550th Birth Anniversary of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Ji at national as well as international level by building Kartarpur Corridor.

CLASSICAL LANGUAGES

Context: The proposal of Classical language status for Marathi is under active consideration

About Classical Languages:

• In 2004, the Government of India declared that languages that met certain requirements could be accorded the status of a “Classical Language in India”.
• Over the next few years, several languages were granted the Classical status, and demands have been made for other languages, including Marathi.

Languages thus far declared to be Classical:

• Tamil (in 2004)
• Sanskrit (in 2005)
• Kannada (in 2008)
• Telugu (in 2008)
• Malayalam (in 2013)
• Odia (in 2014)

Criteria for Classical Languages in India:

• The Government of India Currently follows the Following criteria to determine the Eligibility of language to be considered for classification as “Classical Language”.
• High Antiquity of its early texts / which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers.
• The Literary Tradition be original and not borrowed from another speech community.
• The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.

m- Kisan PORTAL

MKisan Application

• This app and portal has been designed and developed by inhouse IT Team of DAC with the help of C-DAC Pune under project mKisan.
• It Brings together SMS (both Push and Pull), Interactive voice response system, unstructured supplementary services of DATA or USSD (Which is essentially interactive SMS and can facilitate data entry and query on Web Portals without Internet), Mobile apps and services.
• It enables farmers and all other stakeholders to obtain advisories and information being sent by experts and government officials at different levels through mKisan portal without registering on the portal.

RASHTRIYA VAYOSHRI YOJANA

• The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment is implementing the scheme of ‘Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana’ (RVY)
• Objective: To Provide senior citizens, belonging to BPL category and suffering from age related disabilities/ infirmities, with such physical aids and assisted living devices which can restore near normalcy in their bodily functions.
• Under the Scheme, aids & assisted living devices viz. walking sticks, elbow crutches, walkers/ crutches, tripods/ quadpods, hearing aids, wheelchairs, artificial dentures and spectacles are distributed free of cost to the eligible senior citizens beneficiaries.
• The Scheme is entirely funded from the Senior Citizens’ Welfare Fund (SCWF), established vide Senior Citizens’ Welfare Fund Rules, 2016.

FIRST BATTERY-POWERED CRUISE SHIP SAILS

• Context: The world’s first cruise ship propelled partially by battery power is set to head out from northern Norway on its maiden voyage
• The hybrid expedition cruise ship, the Roald Amundsen, can take 500 passengers and is designed to sail in harsh climate waters.
• It is named after the Norwegian explorer who navigated the Northwest Passage in 1903-1906 and was first to reach the South Pole in 1911.