GK and Current Affairs Updates

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is implementing a scheme named “Capacity Building for developing Trauma care Facilities in Government Hospitals on National Highways” since 11th Plan with the objective to bring down preventable deaths because of road accidents to 10 % by developing a pan-India trauma care network in which no trauma victims has to be transported for more than 50 kilometres and a designated trauma care facility is available at every 100 km on the national highways.
In the 11th Five Year Plan, 140 locations along the Golden Quadrilateral Corridor North-South and East-West Corridor were identified to develop trauma care facilities to provide immediate treatment for accident victims. Out of these centres, 118 hospitals/Medical Colleges were identified under scheme of Capacity Building for developing Trauma care Facilities in Government Hospitals on National Highways and 20 hospitals/Medical Colleges under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY). Remaining 2 identified hospitals/Medical College were to be developed from their own funding. Government has taken various steps to ensure proper functioning of the identified trauma centres, which include:-
(i)Adoption of 1033 as National Highways Distress Call Number by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH).
(ii)Establishment of National Programme Management Unit at the Central level.
(iii)Appointment of State Nodal Officer for the Scheme.
(iv)Constitution of Core Committee between the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and MORTH for better coordination and implementation of the Scheme
 (v)Circulation of model MOU to State/UTs.
(vi)Preparation and circulation of Operation guidelines.
(vii)Constitution of Screening Committee to examine the proposal submitted by the States/UTs and to monitor physical and financial progress made under the Scheme.
 (viii)Development of schematic design diagram of trauma care facility in consultation with Central Design Bureau. 
 (ix)Consulting of advance trauma life support and basic life support training for doctors and nurses.
 (x)Revision of requirement of human resource and equipment for trauma care facilities by Technical Resource Group.

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports Shri Sarbananda Sonowal has said that a new Central Sector Scheme titled “National Young Leaders Programme(NYLP)” was introduced in December,2014 in pursuance of Budget announcement of Hon’ble Finance Minister in 2014-15 Budget Speech.

 The programme aims at developing leadership qualities among the youth to enable them to realize their full potential and in the process, to contribute to the nation-building process. 
In a written reply in the Lok Sabha today Shri Sonowal said, the objective of the Scheme is to  motivate the youth to strive for excellence in their respective fields and to bring them to the forefront of the development process. It seeks to harness the immense youth energy for national – building. 

The National Young Leaders Programme has  the following  five components : 
 (i)Neighbourhood Youth Parliament (NYP):  Neighbourhood Youth Parliament would provide a platform to the youth to articulate their views on various socio-economic development issues of concern to them. About 2.98 lakhs youth clubs under NYKS (Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan) shall start functioning as ‘neighbourhood youth parliament’. This will gradually be expanded to cover all villages. The Programme will help in developing leadership qualities among the youth and in actively involving them in the governance process. The will also be an important step in the direction of ‘good governance’.
 

ii)Youth for Development Programme (YFDP):  The Programme aims at channelizing the immense youth energy towards the nation-building, by involving youth in Shramadaan (voluntary labour). The outcome of this Programme shall be that the young generation leads the Shramadaan with the entire community joining it. The Programme will help in developing the leadership qualities of the youth. In the process, it will also lead to conservation of environment and creation of assets for the nation.
 
iii) National Young Leaders Awards (NYLA):  The youth are doing pioneering work in all the sectors. The Programme aims at motivating the youth to strive for excellence in their respective fields by recognizing and rewarding the outstanding work done by them. Such exceptionally talented youth could serve as role models and mentors for others.
 
iv) National Youth Advisory Council (NYAC):  The Council is proposed to be set up to seek active involvement of the young leaders as well as other stakeholders in the decision-making process on the youth related issues. NYAC shall advise the Ministries/ Departments on youth related initiatives/ issues.  The Council will give effective representation to young leaders from all States/ UTs.  
 
v)National Youth Development Fund (NYDF):  The Fund  has been set up with the objective to mobilise funds from non-budgetary resources also for youth development. This will enable the Department to fill the gaps in the ongoing programmes as also take up innovative programmes for youth development to create young leaders.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and INTMA was signed on 14th April 2015 with an underlying intent of co-operation in the field of taking up power projects of mutual interest in Kazakhstan and Russia. 

Successful implementation of power project orders/contracts secured on account of this MoU in Kazakhstan/Russian markets by BHEL and other Indian vendors supplying their goods/services to such projects can help them to establish reference(s) in the CIS countries. In any case, the financial gain that can accrue based on the above MoU cannot be postulated as of now.

The Government has approved establishment of All India Institute of Ayurveda at Sarita Vihar, New Delhi. The Institute has been conceived as an Apex Institute of Ayurveda with 200 bedded referral hospital for imparting education in the field of Ayurveda at M.D. and Ph.D level. The construction activities and procurement of medical equipment and furniture are at an advanced stage of completion. 

Research and Development in AYUSH is undertaken in accordance with the objectives and strategies outlined in the ‘National Policy for Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy-2002’. Central Government has set up Research Councils and implemented a Central Scheme of Extramural Research to undertake and support research & development activities including development of drugs in Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Homoeopathy. 80 units of the four Research Councils are functioning in the country. Adequate resources are provided to these initiatives inter-alia to facilitate development and discovery of such drugs, which are different from the classical formulations mentioned in the authoritative books. Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 has a provision for patent or proprietary medicines in relation to Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani systems of medicine. Many such medicines are licensed and available in the market. Rule 158-B of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, 1945 provides inter-alia the regulatory guidelines for the evidence of safety and effectiveness requirements for licensing of new formulations and Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani drugs with new indications. Government has also published Good Clinical Practice guidelines for imparting technical assistance in the area of research and development of AYUSH drugs for the conduct of clinical trials.

As per the Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index (TTCI) 2015, of the World Economic Forum, rank of India has improved significantly to 52^nd in 2015 from 65^th in 2013. Improving ranking of India from 65th to 52^nd position in travel and tourism competitiveness index had been set as a target in the Result Framework Document (RFD) of Ministry of Tourism for the year 2014-15. Spain  tops in index list.

Rank    Country/Economy    Value
 
1    Spain    5.31
2    France    5.24
3    Germany    5.22
4    United States    5.12
5    United Kingdom    5.12
6    Switzerland    4.99
7    Australia    4.98
8    Italy    4.98
9    Japan    4.94
10    Canada    4.92
52    India    4.02

President Pranab Mukherjee presented the 24th Saraswati Samman for 2014 to Kannada writer and former Union Minister Dr. M. Veerappa Moily for his epic “Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam” written in Kannada.He is the second author to get this award in Kannada. Moily's award-winning epic “Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam” was published in 2007. So far it has been translated in Hindi, English, Tamil and Telugu languages.

The Saraswati Samman is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any 22 Indian language listed in Schedule VIII of the Constitution of India. It is named after an Indian goddess of learning and is considered to be among the highest literary awards in India.The Saraswati Samman was instituted in 1991 by the K. K. Birla Foundation. It consists of Rs 10 lakh, a citation and a plaque.[3] [2][1]Candidates are selected from literary works published in the previous ten years by a panel that included scholars and former award winners

India-born Sundar Pichai was named CEO of Google by the company's founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin in course of a re-organization that created a mother company called Alphabet. All the companies of Google will work in collaboration with Alphabet. Pichai, 43, is a Chennai native and a passout of IIT Kharagpur. Page will be CEO of Alphabet.Washington : India-born Sundar Pichai was named CEO of Google on Tuesday by the company's founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin in course of a re-organization that created a mother company called Alphabet.

A Chennai native who went to IIT Kharagpur and later to Stanford and Wharton, will take charge of a slimmed down Google (quickly dubbed Google Minus) that Larry Page said will be stripped of companies "that are pretty far afield of our main Internet products," which will all go into Alphabet. Page will be CEO of Alphabet.

 70th anniversary of dropping of disastrous Atomic bomb on Nagasaki city of Japan was observed across the world. A solemn ceremony including ageing survivors, relatives of victims observed and guests from 75 countries was held on the ground zero by marking a minute’s silence at 11:02 am local time at which the devastating explosion took place on August 9, 1945.
Important  facts
The atomic bomb (powerful plutonium bomb) dubbed as ‘Fat Man’ was dropped from a US Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber named the Enola Gay on Nagasaki. 
This bomb killed around 70 thousand people and completely destroyed entire city. 
The bomb was dropped on Nagasaki three days after the first atomic bomb named ‘Little Boy’ was dropped in Hiroshima on 6th August, 1945 which killed around 140,000 people and destroyed entire city. 
The twin bombings by US were dealt as the final blows to Japan which led to its unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945, bringing an end to World War. 
It should be noted that these nuclear bombs attack on Japanese cities, are only instance in warfare history of mankind in which nuclear weapons by any country were used against another

On 10 August Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched a new mobile app ‘Disha’ to aid digital literacy in Bihar. The app was launched in Bihar that aims to help people learn about computers and Internet through self learning modules. The app envisages offering digital literacy to tribal and Dalit women in the State which is free and available on Google app store. Telecom ministry also launched “Disha handbook” that has pictographic lessons on computers operations. This initiative was taken by Ministry to spread out digital literacy in women from tribal and Dalit background in Bihar. To promote digital literacy government has initiated training program under “Digital Saksharta Abhiyan” in all states. The training is conducted in collaboration with Intel, which is working with the Common Service Centres (CSCs) for the purpose of digital literacy in India. So far Intel has trained over 200 Dalit women and aims to train over 500 women in Bihar. Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA): The Digital Saksharta Abhiyan (DISHA) mission was launched on 21 August 2014 that envisages providing digital literacy to non IT literate citizens. The scheme imparts IT training to 52.5 lakh persons that include Anganwadi and ASHA workers and authorised ration dealers in all the States/UTs across the country.
 

In order to build on the very encouraging response to the two very affordable and convenient to subscribe insurance schemes, namely the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) for accident and disability cover of up to Rs.2 Lakh at an annual premium of Rs.12 and the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) for a term life cover of Rs.2 Lakh at an annual premium of Rs.330, launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 9th May 2015, a special enrolment drive is being launched by participating Banks and Insurance Companies in the months of August-September, in the backdrop of the forthcoming festival of Raksha Bandhan. The drive will reach out to the pool of eligible Bank account holders who are yet to be enrolled under these schemes.

This “Suraksha Bandhan” drive aims to take forward the Government’s objective of creating a universal social security system in the country, targeted especially at the poor and the under-privileged. The envisaged social security initiative also includes the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), launched along with the above two insurance schemes, which addresses the issue of old age income security by facilitating regular contributions during the working life of the subscriber for a guaranteed pension at the age of 60, with certain Government contribution for eligible subscribers who enroll by 31st December, 2015.
 
Participating Banks supported by the participating Insurance Companies will work towards local outreach, awareness building and enrolment facilitation during this drive. All eligible citizens are requested to contact their Bank branches for enrolment.
 Public service organizations supported by peoples representatives, field functionaries of Govt. Departments / Ministries working with the unorganized / informal sector and Banks / Insurance companies are expected to participate in these efforts through outreach drives, camps etc. in large numbers during this period.