Daily Current Affairs : 3-Mar-2020
Major Topics Covered :
KISAN CREDIT CARD
ATAL BHUJAL YOJANA
INSTITUTES OF EXCELLENCE (IoE)
NOMINATIONS TO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
KISAN CREDIT CARD
Why in news?
The benefits of Kisan Credit card have been extended to those engaged in Pisciculture in Rajasthan for providing short term loans to them, while covering the cost of establishing the fisheries cost and their maintenance.
Highlights
Kisan Credit Card (KCC) scheme meets the financial requirements of farmers at various stages of farming. The scheme aims at providing adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window with flexible and simplified procedure to the farmers for their cultivation and other needs as indicated below:
To meet the short term credit requirements for cultivation of crops :
Post-harvest expenses;
Produce marketing loan;
Consumption requirements of farmer household;
Working capital for maintenance of farm assets and activities allied to agriculture;
Investment credit requirement for agriculture and allied activities.
The KCC scheme also provides the facility of ATM enabled RuPay Card, one-time documentation, built-in cost escalation in the limit and any number of drawals within the limit.
The farmers eligible under the KCC scheme include small farmers, marginal farmers, share croppers, oral lessee and tenant farmers. The Self Help Groups (SHGs) or Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) are also eligible for availing benefits under the said scheme.
Source : PIB and HINDU
ATAL BHUJAL YOJANA
Why in news?
Andhra Pradesh is not in the list of states that benefitted from the 6000 crore Atal Bhujal yojana.
Highlights :
In the scheme 8353 gram panchayats in seven states – Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and UP have been selected for the period 2020-21 to 2024-25.
Under the central sector scheme, groundwater resources would be developed and managed sustainably with community participation.
The scheme is being implemented with the financial assistance of the world bank with a sharing pattern of 50:50 between the government of India and the World Bank.
Two components of the scheme :
Institutional strengthening and capacity building for sustainable ground water management in the states including improving monitoring networks, capacity building, strengthening of water user associations.
Incentivising the states for achievements in improved groundwater management practices namely data dissemination, preparation of water security plans, implementation of management interventions through convergence of ongoing schemes, adopting demand side management practices, etc.
Source : HINDU AND TOI
INSTITUTES OF EXCELLENCE (IoE)
Why in news?
As per an investigation by Indian Express, two institutes – Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Odisha and Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Tamil Nadu that were declared IoE, do not meet the eligibility criteria on net worth.
Highlights :
Eligibility criteria :
The collective net worth of the sponsoring organisation should be 3000 crore for existing institutes and 5000 crores for new ones.
Greater autonomy –
To admit foreign students up to 30% of admitted students;
To recruit foreign faculty upto 25% of faculty strength;
To offer online courses upto 20% of its programmes;
To enter into academic collaboration with top 500 in the world ranking Institutions without permission of UGC;
Free to fix and charge fees from foreign students without restriction;
Flexibility of course structure in terms of number of credit hours and years to take a degree;
Complete flexibility in fixing of curriculum and syllabus, among others.
Finance –
Each public Institution selected as ‘Institution of Eminence’ will get financial assistance up to Rs. 1000 Crore over the period of five years under this scheme.
Source : PIB and INDIAN EXPRESS
IN-FLIGHT WIFI NETWORK
Why in news? The Telecom Commission had given its green signal to in-flight connectivity of Internet and mobile communications on aircraft in Indian airspace in 2018. The government has permitted airlines operating in India to provide in-flight WiFi services to passengers.
Highlights :
The pilot “may permit the access of Internet services by passengers on board an aircraft in flight, through Wi-Fi on board, when laptop, smartphone, tablet, smartwatch, e-reader or a point of sale device is used in flight mode or airplane mode”.
Technology :In-flight connectivity systems use two kinds of technologies.
One, an onboard antenna picks up signals from the nearest tower on the ground, and unless the aircraft flying over a large space with no towers (such as a water body), the connection will remain seamless up to a certain altitude.
Otherwise, satellites can be used to connect to ground stations in the same way that satellite TV signals are transmitted. Data is transmitted to a personal electronic device through an onboard router, which connects to the plane’s antenna. The antenna transmits the signals, through satellites, to a ground station, which redirects the traffic to a billing server that calculates the data consumption. It is then relayed to the intercepting servers, and to the World Wide Web.
Once flight mode is activated, the plane’s antenna will link to terrestrial Internet services provided by telecom service providers; when the aircraft has climbed to 3,000 m (normally 4-5 minutes after take-off), the antenna will switch to satellite-based services. This way, there will be no break in Internet services to passengers, and cross-interference between terrestrial and satellite networks will be avoided.
Source : Indian Express
NOMINATIONS TO WORLD HERITAGE SITES
Why in news?
Nomination dossiers of ‘Dholavira: A Harappan City’ and ‘Monuments and Forts of Deccan Sultanate’ have been submitted for inclusion in the World Heritage List for the year 2020
Highlights :
Govt. of Madhya Pradesh has submitted the proposal of ‘Group of Monuments at Mandu’ in the year 2019. The dossier was further forwarded to World Heritage Centre (WHC) for completeness check. Inputs received from WHC have been conveyed to the State Government for further incorporation
India has 38 world heritage sites, making it the 6th largest number of world heritage sites in the world.
There are 30 cultural sites, 7 natural sites and 1 mixed as recognised by UNESCO.
Source : PIB and UNESCO
