Important Current Affairs 20th September 2017

Important Current Affairs 20th September 2017

Current Affairs 20th September 2017: NATIONAL NEWS

Cabinet approves Revamped Khelo India Programme 

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has approved the revamped Khelo India programme at a cost of Rs.1,756 crore for the period 2017-18 to 2019-20. 
●    This marks a watershed moment in the history of Indian sports, as the Programme aims at mainstreaming sport as a tool for individual development, community development, economic development and national development.
●    The revamped Khelo India Programme would impact the entire sports ecosystem, including infrastructure, community sports, talent identification, coaching for excellence, competition structure and sports economy.
●    An unprecedented Pan Indian Sports Scholarship scheme, which would cover 1,000 most talented young athletes each year across select sports disciplines. 
●    Each athlete selected under the scheme shall receive an annual scholarship worth Rs. 5.00 lakh for 8 consecutive years.

Cabinet approves Rationalization/Merger of the Government of India Press (GIPs) and their modernization 

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its for rationalization/merger and modernization of 17 Government of India Presses (GIPs)/Units into 5 Government of India Presses (GIPs) at Rashtrapati Bhavan, Minto Road and Mayapuri, New Delhi; Nashik, Maharashtra and Temple Street, Kolkata, West Bengal.
●    These 5 Presses will be redeveloped and modernised by monetisation of their surplus land. 
●    Land measuring 468.08 acres of the other merged Presses will be given to Land & Development Office, Ministry of Urban Development. Land measuring 56.67 acres of the Government of India Text Books Presses (GITBPs) at Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar and Mysuru will be returned to the respective State Governments.
●    Modernisation of the Presses will enable them to undertake important confidential, urgent and multi-colour printing work of the Central Government Offices all over the country.
●    This will be carried out at zero cost to the exchequer and without any retrenchment.

Cabinet approves introduction of the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2017 

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval for introduction of the Dentists (Amendment) Bill, 2017 in Parliament subject to modifications of drafting or consequential nature, if any, as may be considered necessary by the Legislative Department by amending the Dentists Act, 1948 (16 of 1948). 
●    The amendment will reduce the redundancy.
●    The clauses being amended include those pertaining to certain modifications in the provisions of the Dentists Act, 1948 with regard to:
●    The Membership  of  the Dental Council of India under clause (f) of   section 3 and
●    The  Membership  of  State  and  Joint  State Dental Councils under clause (b) of section 21 and clause (b) of section 23 of the said Act.
●    As per the existing Act, it was required to have the representation of dentists registered in Part B as Central Government nominees in the Dental Council of India and the election of four/ two members from Part B to the State/ Joint State Dental Councils.  
●    However, it has lost relevance. 
●    With a view to reducing the redundancy of the provisions of their representation, the Central Government has decided to delete these provisions so that their representation does not remain mandatory any more.

Cabinet approves increase of cost norms for Supplementary Nutrition provided in Anganwadis and in the Scheme for Adolescent Girls 

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal for revision of cost norms with annual cost indexation for Supplementary Nutrition (SN) for the beneficiaries of Anganwadi Services and Adolescent Girls (out of school 11-14 years) under the Umbrella ICDS Scheme. 
●    This addresses a long standing anomaly and ensures that the changes in norms keeps pace with changes in costs on an annual basis.
●    This follows the decision by the Government to provide cash benefits to pregnant and lactating mothers under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, and is part of an intensive effort to improve the nutritional status of women and children.
●    The revision of cost norms for SN for beneficiaries of Anganwadi Services would cost additional expenditure of Rs.9,900 crore and for beneficiaries of Adolescent Girls, it would cost Rs.2,267.18 crore as GoI share for a period from 2017-18 to 2019-20.
●    The revision in the cost norms of SN for the beneficiaries of Anganwadi Services and Adolescent Girls would impact the health and nutritional status of about 11 crore beneficiaries per annum.

Cabinet approves Extension of time period of the Scheme "Special Industry Initiative for J&K" (Sll J&K) - Udaan

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs for extension of time period of the Scheme "Special Industry Initiative for J&K" (Sll J&K)- Udaan till 31st December, 2018 without any modification and cost escalation. 
●    Initially the time period of Udaan was upto 2016-17.
●    Udaan provides exposure to the youth of J&K to the best of corporate India and corporate India to the rich talent pool available in the State. 
●    So far, 109 leading Corporate have partnered with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) under UDAAN with a commitment to train youth from the State covering Organized Retail, Banking, Financial Services, IT, ITES, Infrastructure, Hospitality etc. So far, 34,587 candidates have been selected of whom 31,903 candidates have joined, 22,237 candidates have completed the training, 7,649 are undergoing training and 14,694 have been offered jobs.
●    In spite of four months of unrest, the scheme has gained a good momentum and pace of implementation has been the best during FY 2016-17 since its inception. 
●    More than 12,000 candidates had joined training and nearly 10,000 candidates were offered jobs. 140 mega selection drives were held so far covering all districts of the State.
●    Udaan is a national integration scheme with the goal to mainstream J&K youth with rest of the country. 

Ram Vilas Paswan addresses 49th Annual General Meeting of NCCF 

Speaking on the occasion of 49th Annual General Body Meeting of NCCF convened at NCUI Auditorium in New Delhi, Union Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan noted with satisfaction the performance of Apex Body of Consumer Cooperatives in India, which has registered a turnover of about Rs.800 crores with a profit of Rs.7.70 crores. 
●    The Minister further lauded the role of NCCF in protecting the interest of consumers by making available a variety of consumer goods at most competitive prices to the consumers. 
●    Efforts made by NCCF in procurement of paddy and wheat in the states of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu were appreciated by the Minister. 
●    The Union Minister also appreciated the interventions made by NCCF in making available pulses and tomatoes at the subsidised prices to the consumers in Delhi which helped in stabilizing the prices. 
●    Considering the satisfactory performance of NCCF, an increased role of NCCF in procurement of paddy and wheat in other states was emphasized by the Minister. 
●    The Minister also underlined the importance of maintaining a buffer stock of pulses to effectively deal with a situation of sudden surge in the prices of pulses to safeguard the interest of consumers in the country. 
●    Under Price Stabilizing Scheme, the need for designating NCCF as one of the agencies for procurement of pulses was underlined by the Minister. 
●    In order to keep the retail prices of essential commodities at reasonable level at all times, it is important that agencies like Mother Dairy and Kendriya Bhandar, NCCF should also have a sufficient number of retail outlets in Delhi. 
●    To start with, NCCF should make efforts for having one shop in each of the Government establishments for which the Minister assured to write to all the concerned ministries.

National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign – 2017-18

The National Conference on Agriculture for Rabi Campaign – 2017-18 is being organized on 19th – 20th September, 2017 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. 
●    The Conference was inaugurated by Union Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Shri Radha Mohan Singh in the presence of Ministers of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri G.S. Shekhawat and Ms. Krishna Raj.  
●    The Conference was attended by Secretary, DAC&FW; Secretary DARE and DG, ICAR; Agriculture Production Commissioners / Principal Secretaries/ Secretaries/Directors of the State Department of Agriculture/Horticulture and Agriculture Marketing; Sr. Scientists from ICAR and other Officials from the concerned Line Departments / Agencies of Central / State Government.
●    In his inaugural address, Shri Radha Mohan Singh applauded efforts of Central and State Governments and the Farmers in attaining the ever highest production of more than 275 million tons of foodgrains and 32 million tons of oilseeds during 2016-17 as per the latest and the 4th Advance Estimates. 
●    The Minister made a mention about the quantum jump in pulse production from previous record of 19.25 million tons in 2013-14 to 22.95 million tons during 2016-17. 
●    While sharing his concern about excess rainfall and flood like situation faced by Eastern and few Western States during Kharif-2017, he urged the States to make all out efforts to ensure timely supply of inputs for more area coverage during the forthcoming Rabi season.

Mahesh Sharma releases the book “Bhartiya Kala Mein Salil Kridayen Evam Sadyahsnata Nayika” 

Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Culture released the book entitled “Bhartiya Kala Mein Salil Kridayen Evam Sadyahsnata Nayika” authored by Dr. Kshetrapal Gangwar and Shri Sanjib Kumar Singh at a function in National Museum here today. 
●    This is an Art Book based on original research, written in Hindi and published by National Museum after few decades. 
●    Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Minister of State (Independent charge) for Labour and Employment presided over the function.
●    Addressing on the occasion, Dr Mahesh Sharma said that our artists, authors, sculptors and literary persons are the true messengers of our great culture. 
●    He congratulated both the authors for bringing out such a valuable book for the masses and especially for the research scholars.
●    In his address, Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwar applauded the efforts of both the authors as well as of the National Museum.
●    This is a book written to highlight the Indian Art and describes the Water Sports (Salil Kridayen). 
●    This form of art has been the part of Indian Art from time immemorial. 
●    The literary sources and archaeological evidence proves that it was a dear subject for the artist and Literary persons.