GK and Current Affairs Updates

The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval to the US $ 1,500 million project of World Bank Support to Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) (SBMG)
•    The Project basically provides for incentivising States on the basis of their performance in the existing SBM-G. 
•    Incentivisation of States was approved by the Cabinet while approving the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) on 24th September, 2014. 
•    The current approval provides for the mechanism of such incentivisation through World Bank credit. 
•    Under the approved project, the performance of the States will be gauged through certain performance indicators, called the Disbursement-Linked Indicators (DLIs). 
•    3DLIs :
•    Reduction in the prevalence of open defecation: The funds under this result area shall be released to the States on the basis of reduction in prevalence of open defecation amongst rural households in the State, compared to the previous year, 
•    Sustaining Open Defecation Free (ODF) status in Villages: The funds under this result area, shall be released on the basis of estimated population residing in ODF villages, 
•    Increase in percentage of rural population served by improved Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM): The funds under this DL1 will be based on the population served with acceptable level of SLWM services. 
•    The States will pass on a substantial portion (more than 95 percent) of the Performance Incentive Grant Funds received from the MOWS, to the appropriate implementing levels of districts, Blocks, GPs etc. 
•    The end-use of the incentive grants will be limited to activities pertaining to the sanitation sector. 
•    The project will accelerate efforts to achieve sustained outcomes in sanitation by 2019. 
•    The incentive framework introduced through the project will reorient efforts of States towards the SBM(G) 'outcomes' such as reduction in open defecation, sustainable achievement of open defecation - free (ODF) villages and improvement in solid and liquid waste management (SLWM). 
•    The project will support the SBM(G) programme in achievement of its objectives of attaining open defecation- free and clean environment. 
•    The total World Bank credit being obtained for the Project is US $ 1500 million (Rs. 9000 crore @ US $ l=Rs. 60), of which US $ 1475 million (Rs 8850 crore) is for providing incentive grant to the States and US$ 25 million (Rs 150 crore) is for providing programme management and capacity support to Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS). 

A team of street kids have won five medals for India at 'Street Child Games' held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The children were picked by NGO Karunalaya after performances at local competitions and put under coaches for training. 
•    “I now have friends from Burundi, Pakistan, Egypt, Britain, Argentina and Brazil. It makes me very, very happy”, a medal-winner said.
•    Hepsiba, won a gold in the girls 100m dash. Apart from winning the 100m gold, she also won bronze in 100m hurdles, and silver in girls' 400m.
•    The 16-year-old is one of five street kids from Chennai who were given the chance to participate in the Street Child Games in various disciplines. 
•    The games were organised by an international NGO Street Child United who also helped fund Hepsiba's trip to Rio. 
•    The NGO works to give a voice to street kids who are marginalised and give them a platform of sports to express their talents.
•    Tournament was held between March 14 to 20.
•    One of her teammates, Ashok, won a bronze in boys' shot put, and another team member, Sneha, stood third in 4x100m relay race to win the bronze.

On 23-March-2016 The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for India to accede to the Ashgabat Agreement, an international transport and transit corridor facilitating transportation of goods between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. 
•    The Ashgabat Agreement has Oman, Iran, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan as founding members. Kazakhstan has also joined this arrangement subsequently. 
•    Accession to the Agreement would enable India to utilise this existing transport and transit corridor to facilitate trade and commercial interaction with the Eurasian region. 
•    Further, this would synchronise with our efforts to implement the International North South Transport Corridor (INSTC) for enhanced connectivity. 
•    India’s intention to accede to the Ashgabat Agreement would now be conveyed to the Depository State (Turkmenistan). India would become party to the Agreement upon consent of the founding members.
•    It is a transit agreement established in year 2011. 
•    It establishes international transport and transit corridor between Central Asia and the Persian Gulf countries. 
•    Its founding members are Uzbekistan, Iran, Turkmenistan and Oman. Kazakhstan had joined the grouping in 2015.

Four-time runners-up, SSP Chawrasia broke the jinx to lift the Hero Indian Open with a two-stroke victory at the prestigious tournament at the Delhi Golf Course on 20th March 2016.
•    The 37-year-old came up with a sedate one-under 71 in the final round to edge out defending champion Anirban Lahiri (69) and Korea's Jeunghun Wang (68). 
•    The victory also secured his European Tour card.
•    Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia also known as "Chipputtsia" and "Chow" is an Indian professional golfer. 
•    After he turned professional in 1997, he went on to win eight titles on the Indian Tour and finished second twice in the Indian Open.
•    At the end of the 2014 season he asked the Asian Tour to change the spelling of his last name, previously Chowrasia, to Chawrasia.
•    In February 2008, he won the inaugural Indian Masters, which was a part of the 2008 European Tour.
•    In February 2011, Chawrasia won his second European Tour event winning the 2011 Avantha Masters in New Delhi.

Every year 23rd March is being observed as World Meteorological Day (WMD). The theme for 2016 year is “Hotter, Drier, Wetter. Face the Future”. 
•    The theme highlights the disruption caused by climate change on the natural pattern of the seasons and increasing frequency and intensity of certain extreme weather events such as heat waves, droughts and heavy rainfall. 
•    On the occasion of WMD, various meteorological research awards will be also given. 
•    These awards include International Meteorological Organization Prize, Professor Dr. Vilho Vaisaila Award and Norbert Gerbier-Mumm International Award. 
•    Background On this day in 1950 the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) Convention came into force that aimed at creating WMO. 
•    Later in 1951, WMO became United Nations specialized agency for meteorology, geophysical sciences and operational hydrology.
•    The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 191 Member States and Territories. 
•    It originated from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. 
•    Established in 1950, WMO became the specialised agency of the United Nations for meteorology (weather and climate), operational hydrology and related geophysical sciences. 

The Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change on 22 March 2016 notified new environment standards for Gensets running on Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG)/Natural Gas (NG), Diesel with LPG/NG and Petrol with LPG/NG operated in various cities/towns in India.
The standards for Gensets running on LPG/NG, or in combination with diesel/petrol have been notified for the first time.
The primary aim of the new standards for Gensets is to control air and noise pollution emanating from the operation of Gensets. These standards were recommended by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) after consultations with industries and other stakeholders.
In all, the three fuel modes of operation, a three-tier classification have been adopted.
• These standards will control the air and noise emission profile across different category of Gensets and will be revisited in 4-5 years once air and noise emission quality data and technological details pertaining to Gensets are available.
• These standards have mandated certification for Gensets in terms of Type approval and Conformity of Production for air emission as well as noise emission.
• The manufacturers are required to obtain the certification for engine products by empanelled agencies, which will help in regulating the unorganised sector thereby help in curbing the illegal import of Gensets in the country, which were observed to have higher air and noise emission values.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 23 March 2016 inaugurated broadband connectivity to North Eastern States via Bangladesh to strengthen telecom services in the region.
•    Under the project, an international gateway for broadband connectivity will be set up at Agartala in Tripura.
•    Using this platform, connectivity will be provided to other North Eastern States like Manipur, Nagaland, etc through Bangladesh.
•    The cost of the project is around 19 crore rupees and BSNL will bear annual operational expenditure of around seven crore rupees from its own resources.
•    During the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Bangladesh in June 2015, an agreement on this project was signed between India and Bangladesh. 
•    The agreement was signed between the state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company limited.
•    Before this link, telecom connectivity for networks was provided to North East from Chennai via Kolkata. The new link is a short route cable between Cox Bazar cable landing station in Bangladesh to Agartala through Akhaura.

The Union Finance Minister Aurn Jaitley on 22 March 2016 launched the crop insurance scheme Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana in Mumbai.
The revamped scheme is aimed at reducing distress in the farm sector and to boost the agricultural sector in the country.
On this occassion, the Minister also launched the NABARD Agri-Credit Monitoring portal to help financial institutions to monitor the status of agricultural loans given to farmer and unveiled the Roadmap of E-Shakti Expansion Programme of digitization of Self-Help Groups (SHGs).
• To avail the scheme, farmers will pay a uniform premium of only 2 percent for all Kharif crops and 1.5 percent for all Rabi crops.
• In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, farmers will pay a premium of only 5 percent.
• The balance premium, after farmers paying the premium at very low rate, will be paid by the Government to provide full insured amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities.
• There will not be any upper limit on Government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90 percent, it will be borne by the Government.
• Compared to the previous agriculture insurance schemes, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bhima Yojana is significant due to the following reasons -• Under the previous agriculture insurance schemes, there was a provision of capping the

premium rate which resulted in low claims being paid to farmers. This capping limited the Government outgo on the premium subsidy.
• Now, this capping was removed and farmers will get full sum insured without any reduction against their claim. Also, farmers will have to pay much lower premiums compared to the previous schemes.
• While formulating the scheme, localized risks, including post harvest losses were also taken into account to ensure no farmer is alone in times of distress.
• The usage of technology will be encouraged to a great extent. Smart phones will be used to capture and upload data of crop cutting to reduce the delays in claim payment to farmers.
• Remote sensing technology will also be deployed to reduce the number of crop cutting experiments.

The Union Cabinet has approved the national capital goods policy on 23 march 2016.
•    The government believes implementation of the capital goods policy is critical and needed to give a boost to the sector and the 'Make in India' initiative. 
•    The government had unveiled the National Capital Goods Policy in February. 
•    This is the first time such a policy has been framed for the sector. 
•    The Cabinet has also green flagged the doubling of two rail lines in Bihar and Jharkhand and approved incentives for rural housing. 
•    MS Unnikrishnan, Managing Director of Thermax welcomed the capital goods policy, saying it would improve trade and exports and also pave the way for advances in technology. 
•    The policy will make sure the country utilizes the capital goods that already exist and cut down on import. 
•    The capacity utilization for the industry as a whole would be between 45 percent and 70 percent, adding, Thermax operated at a capacity level of 50 percent-60 percent. 
•    Indian companies will find themselves exporting capital goods into countries where there is a trade deficit. 
•    Long-term loans will be made available to these companies through the likes of EXIM bank. 

Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and former Chief Justice of India HL Dattu on 22 March 2016 was appointed a member of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC) Bureau in Geneva.
NHRC, India will now be representing Asia-Pacific Region along with Mongolia, Qatar and Australia.
No other National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) from the Asia Pacific region nominated a candidate against Dattu to fill the position of a member vacated by the representative of NHRI of South-Korea.
• The International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC) is a global network of NHRIs administrative bodies set up to promote, protect and monitor human rights in a given country.
• The ICC coordinates the relationship between NHRIs and the United Nations human rights system.
• The ICC Bureau is an important human rights body, which serves as the Management Committee of the ICC.
• The ICC Bureau implements all the decisions of the ICC General Meetings and directs the operations of the ICC between these meetings.
• All sub-committees and working groups report to the ICC Bureau.