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Current Affairs 27.12.2023

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  1. Indian Heritage
  • Culture
  • Modern Indian history
  • The Freedom Struggle
  • Post-independence
  • Indian Society

A. population and associated issues

B. poverty and developmental issues

C.urbanization

   7. Geographical features

8.Indian Constitution

9. Polity

10. Governance

A. institutions

B. regulatory

C. Government policies

D. role of NGOs

E. measures

11. Social Justice

A. Welfare schemes

B Health

Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY:

  • Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri – Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) is the largest publicly funded health assurance scheme in the world which provides health cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
  • Currently, 55 Crore individuals corresponding to 12 Crore families are covered under the scheme. Many States/UTs implementing AB PM-JAY have further expanded the beneficiary base, at their own cost.
  • As of 20th December 2023, approximately 28.45 Crore Ayushman Cards have been created since the inception of the scheme, out of which, approximately 9.38 crore Ayushman Cards have been created during the current year 2023 (Jan -Dec 2023).
  • A total of 6.11 crore hospital admissions amounting to Rs. 78,188 crores have been authorized under the scheme, of which 1.7 crore hospitals admissions worth over Rs. 25,000 crores have been authorized during the year 2023 (Jan-Dec 2023).
  • A total of 26,901 hospitals including 11,813 private hospitals have been empanelled under AB PM-JAY to provide healthcare services to scheme beneficiaries.
  • AB PM-JAY has ensured gender equity in access to healthcare services.
  • Women account for approximately 49% of the total Ayushman cards created and approximately 48% of total authorized hospital admissions.
  • Ayushman Bhava initiative was launched by MoHFW for ensuring the saturation of various healthcare schemes at the village level, ultimately reaching the last mile beneficiaries. It was launched by Hon’ble President Smt. Droupadi Murmu on 13th September 2023.
  • This initiative encompasses a series of interventions, including ‘Aapke Dwar Ayushman 3.0’, ‘Ayushman Sabhas’, ‘Ayushman Melas’, and the ultimate goal of elevating villages to the status of ‘Ayushman Gram’.
  • NHA launched ‘Aapke Dwar Ayushman’ (ADA 3.0) campaign on 17th September 2023 as part of Ayushman Bhava campaign.
  • An Android based ‘Ayushman App’ has been launched by National Health Authority wherein self-verification feature for beneficiaries has been enabled. The app has been developed using latest technology and provided different modes of authentication i.e. face-auth, OTP, IRIS, and fingerprint for Ayushman Card creation.
  • This ensures that any mobile device can be used for Ayushman card creation. As a result, as of 20th December 2023, approximately 3.85 crore verification for Ayushman Card creation have been done during Ayushman Bhava campaign.
  • Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra (VBSY) has been launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister on 15th November 2023.
  • The purpose of the Yatra is to raise awareness about the government’s development policies and schemes among the people, provide benefits of the scheme to eligible population and foster an atmosphere of trust and collaboration.
  • Ayushman Card creation and delivery have been selected for the on-spot services to be offered during the Yatra. As of 20th December 2023, a total of 96.03 lakh Ayushman Cards have been created during the campaign.

C. Education

D. Human Resources

E. poverty and hunger

Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY):

The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) was launched with the specific purpose of ameliorating the hardships faced by the poor and needy due to economic disruptions caused by the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. In view of COVID crisis, the allocation of free foodgrains, under PMGKAY was in addition to regular allocation done. A total quantity of approx. 1118 LMT foodgrains had been allocated under PMGKAY (Phase I-VII) for the period of 28 months with a total planned financial outlay was about Rs. 3.91 lakh crore.

The Central Government, in order to remove the financial burden of the poor beneficiaries and to ensure nationwide uniformity and effective implementation of the Act, had decided to provide food grains free of cost to NFSA beneficiaries i.e. AAY households and PHH beneficiaries, initially for a period of one year beginning from 1st January 2023 under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). Prior to that, under NFSA, subsidized food grains were distributed at Rs 3 per kg for rice, Rs 2 per kg for wheat and at Rs 1 per kg for coarse grains to beneficiaries.

As per Central Government decision, inter-alia two food subsidy schemes have been subsumed as Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY).

Keeping in view welfare of the beneficiaries and in order to strengthen the provisions of NFSA, 2013 in terms of accessibility, affordability and availability of food grains for the poor and to maintain uniformity across the States, the Central Government, has decided to continue to provide free food grains to about 81.35 crore NFSA beneficiaries (i.e. Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) households and Priority Households (PHH) beneficiaries) under the PMGKAY for a period of five years with effect from 1st January, 2024, as per entitlement under NFSA.

        • Atal Pension Yojana (APY)
  • Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a flagship social security scheme of the Government of India, launched on 9th May 2015 by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi with the objective of providing financial security during Old-age to all citizens of India, especially the poor, the underprivileged and the workers in the unorganised sector.
  • Individuals between 18 to 40 years of age who have a savings bank account and who are not an income taxpayer can enrol under the scheme.
  • The scheme provides a lifetime guaranteed pension to the subscriber ranging from Rs. 1000 to Rs. 5000 per month (as selected by the subscriber) from the age of 60 years.
  • Guarantee of equal pension to the spouse after the death of the subscriber.
  • In case of the death of both the subscriber and life partner (spouse), the nominee will receive the entire corpus accumulated till age 60 of the subscriber.
  • Flexible contribution payment options- monthly, quarterly and half yearly have been made available.
  • The amount of pension chosen and the individual’s age will decide the contribution amount till the age of 60 years.
  • Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY)
  • The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY) is a savings scheme initiated by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, specifically designed for the benefit of the girl child. The scheme was launched as part of the ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao’ campaign to promote the welfare of the girl child and encourage parents to save for their education and marriage expenses. So far, 3.2 crore accounts are active under the Scheme.

12. International relations

A. India and its neighbourhood

B. groupings and agreements

C.Indian diaspora

the Migration and Mobility Agreement between India and Italy

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has given its ex-post facto approval to the proposal of Ministry of External Affairs to sign and ratify the Migration and Mobility Agreement between the Government of the Republic of India and the Government of the Italian Republic.

The Agreement would enhance people-to-people contacts, foster mobility of students, skilled workers, business people and young professionals and strengthen cooperation on issues related to irregular migration between the two sides.

The Agreement locks-in the current Italian visa regime including mechanisms for post study opportunities, internships, professional trainings assuring an advantage for India under the existing labour mobility pathways under the Flows Decree.

Some of the key provisions are listed below:

  1. Indian students wishing to gather initial professional experience, after completing academic/vocational training in Italy may be granted temporary residence in Italy for up to 12 months.
  2. The Italian side has detailed provisions related to Professional Training, Extracurricular Internships and Curricular Internships which allow Indian students/trainees to gain experience in Italian skill/training standards.
  3. For workers, the Italian side has reserved a quota of 5000, 6000 and 7000 non seasonal Indian workers for 2023, 2024 and 2025 under the current Flows Decree (Total reserved quota stands at 12000 for non-seasonal workers). Additionally, the Italian side has reserved a quota of 3000, 4000 and 5000 seasonal Indian workers for 2023, 2024 and 2025 under current Flows Decree (Total reserved quota stands at 8000 for seasonal workers).

Under the Flows Decree, Italian side has offered incremental re­served quotas for both seasonal and non-seasonal workers from 2023-2025. Additionally, the Agreement also formalises joint working on fur­thering mobility pathways between India and Italy through agreements on Youth Mobility and Facilitation of Recruitment of Indian qualified  professionals in the healthcare and medical services sectors which will be discussed under the Joint Working Group (JWG).

13. Economic Development

A. Government Budgeting

Minimum Support Price for Copra for 2024 season

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has given its approval for the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for copra for 2024 season. In order to provide remunerative prices to the cultivators, government had announced in the Union Budget of 2018-19, that MSPs of all the mandated crops will be fixed at a level of at least 1.5 times of all India weighted cost of production. The MSP for Fair Average Quality of milling copra has been fixed at Rs.11,160/- per quintal and for ball copra at Rs.12,000/- per quintal for 2024 season. This will ensure a margin of 51.84 percent for milling copra and 63.26 percent for ball copra, which are well beyond 1.5 times the all India weighted average cost of production.  Milling copra is used to extract oil, while ball/edible copra is consumed as a dry fruit and used for religious purposes.  Kerala and Tamil Nadu are major producers of million copra, whereas ball copra is produced predominantly in Karnataka.

The MSP for 2024 season is an increase of Rs.300/- per quintal for milling copra and Rs.250/- per quintal for ball copra over the previous season. In the last 10 years, the Government has increased MSP for milling copra and ball copra from Rs.5,250 per quintal and Rs.5,500 per quintal in 2014-15 to Rs.11,160 per quintal and Rs.12,000 per quintal in 2024-25, registering a growth of 113 percent and 118 percent, respectively.

Digital Payments:

      1. Progress of Digital Payments
  • Promotion of digital payments ecosystem is an essential aspect of digital India programme and has the potential to transform Indian economy by extending inclusive financial services.
  • Consequent upon the allocation of Business Rules vide the Cabinet Secretariat Notification No. 1/21/1/2017.Cab dated 15th February 2017; Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) was assigned the responsibility of “Promotion of Digital Transactions including digital payments”. In compliance to the Union Budget announcement 2017-18, a dedicated DIGIDHAN Mission was set up at MeitY in June 2017. Promotion of Digital Payments has been transferred from MeitY to Department of Financial Services (DFS) vide Cabinet Notification No.1/21/6/2023-Cab. dated 17th July 2023.

B. industrial

E.issues

14. Technology

15. Environment

16. Security

17. Disaster Management