Daily Current Affairs for 30th August 2021

GS PAPER II

POSHAN Maah

Why in News

India is going to celebrate the POSHAN Maah throughout September 2021 under the Ministry of Women and Child Development.

POSHAN Maah

• The Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition (POSHAN) Abhiyaan, also known as National Nutrition Mission, was launched by Prime Minister in March 2018.
• It was launched with the objective to aid India in becoming malnutrition-free by 2022 while improving the nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers.
• The first POSHAN Maah was celebrated in September 2018 with a focus on Social Behavioural Change and Communication (SBCC).
• The themes for POSHAN Maah 2018 included eating healthy – food fortification, hygiene and sanitation, right age of marriage, antenatal care, optimal breastfeeding, anaemia, and education of girls.
• Since then it is celebrated every year in the month of September under the government’s flagship program ‘POSHAN Abhiyaan’.

POSHAN Abhiyaan

• The ‘Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition’ or ‘POSHAN Abhiyaan’ or ‘National Nutrition Mission’, is a flagship programme of government launched by the Prime Minister of India on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on 8^th March, 2018.
• It was launched with the objective to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• NITI Aayog has played a critical role in shaping the POSHAN Abhiyaan.
• For implementation of POSHAN Abhiyaan the four point strategy/pillars of the mission are:
• Inter-sectorial convergence for better service delivery;
• Use of technology (ICT) for real time growth monitoring and tracking of women and children;
• Intensified health and nutrition services for the first 1000 days;
• Jan Andolan.
• As a part of its mandate, NITI Aayog is required to submit implementation status reports of POSHAN Abhiyaan every six months to the PMO.
• The first bi-annual report was prepared and presented at third National Nutrition Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges (which is housed within NITI) in November 2018.

India in Hunger Index

• In the 2020 Global Hunger Index, India ranks 94^th out of 107 countries.
• According to UNICEF’s data on India, nearly half of all deaths in children under 5 are attributable to under-nutrition.
• Under-nutrition puts children at greater risk of dying from common infections, and becomes especially dire during the pandemic.
• In 2019, IMPAct4Nutrition was launched with the idea of accelerating private sector action for nutrition.

Way Forward

• India needs to improve the nutrition status of the country on an urgent footing.
• However, the government alone cannot win this battle and India needs collective commitment to achieve our nutrition goals.

GS PAPER III

Bharat series (BH-series)

Why in News

The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways introduced a new registration mark for new vehicles under the ‘Bharat series (BH-series)’ to facilitate seamless transfer of vehicles.

Key Points

• The Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways introduced a new registration mark for new vehicles under the ‘Bharat series (BH-series)’ to facilitate seamless transfer of vehicles.
• Currently, the process of re-registration of vehicles while moving to another state requires the vehicle owners to obtain a no-objection certificate from the old state where the vehicle was earlier registered then get the vehicle registered in the new state and pay the road tax.

Bharat series (BH-series)

• Bharat series (BH-series), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, is an IT-based solution for vehicle registration to facilitate seamless transfer and re-registration of vehicles while moving from one state to another in India.
• The registration facility will be available to Defence personnel, private organizations, individuals working at Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), Central or State governments, or private sector companies which have offices across four or more states/Union Territories.
• The Central Motor Vehicles (Twentieth Amendment) Rules, 2021, will come into force with effect from September 15, 2021. The registration mark for BH-series vehicle will be generated randomly through the portal.
• The motor vehicle tax levied by the state and union territories at the time of registration in respect to BH-series non-transport vehicle will be 8% in case of vehicles costing up to ₹10 lakh, 10% in case of vehicles costing between ₹10-20 lakh and 12% in case of vehicles costing above 20 lakh.
• Government will levied 2% extra charge for diesel vehicles, while electric vehicles will be charged 2% less tax.

Significance of BH-series

• Earlier, under section 47 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, a person is allowed to keep the vehicle for not more than 12 months in any state other than the state where the vehicle is registered.
• Now, under the new Bharat series registration mark, an individual will not be required to apply for re-registration when moving the vehicle from one state to another.
• Under the scheme, the motor vehicle tax will be levied for 2 years or in multiple of two. After the completion of the 14^th year, the motor vehicle tax will be levied annually which will be half
• This will facilitate free movement of personal vehicles across states upon relocation to a new state.

GS PAPER III

Mohanpur Sub-station

Why in News

Union Ministry of Finance and Corporate Affairs inaugurated the newly constructed 132/33/11 kV Mohanpur Sub-station in Tripura.

Key Points

• This Sub-station has been constructed by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (POWERGRID), a Maharatna CPSU under Ministry of Power, and Government of India for Tripura under North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP).

North Eastern Region Power System Improvement Project (NERPSIP)

• NERPSIP is a Central sector plan scheme of the Ministry of Power, Government of India, envisioned to drive economic development of the North Eastern region of the country.
• The scheme is being implemented through POWERGRID, for six beneficiary North Eastern states namely, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura.
• The main objective of the project is Government of India’s commitment for the total economic development of North Eastern Region and to strengthen the Intra-State Transmission & Distribution Infrastructure in the North East region.
• Implementation of this scheme, will create a reliable power grid and improve NER States’ connectivity to the upcoming load centers, and thus extend the benefits of the grid connected power to all categories of consumers of beneficiaries in North Eastern region.

• POWERGRID has presently 172,154 ckm of transmission lines, 262 Sub-stations and more than 446,940 MVA of transformation capacity.
• With the adoption of latest technological tools and techniques, enhanced use of automation and digital solutions, POWERGRID has been able to maintain average transmission system availability.

GS PAPER III

Integrated anti-Submarine warfare

Why in News

The Ministry of Defence signed a contract worth Rs. 1,349 Crores with Mahindra Defence Systems (MDS) Limited in order to buy 14 Integrated Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Defence Suits (IADS) for the Indian Navy.

Key Points

• Mahindra Defence System (MDS) in an official statement mentioned that the competitive bids from the Indian companies were invited by the Ministry of Defence through open tender wherein the systems fielded were put through detailed trials at the sea to prove their capability.
• The Ministry of Defence has continued to demonstrate its resolve to expand the ‘Make in India’ initiative as well as the resolve of the country to become Atmanirbhar in advanced technologies with the induction of multiple equipment through the homegrown industry.

Significance

• As per the Defence Ministry, the contract with an Indian company under the ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ category of the defence procurement will be a significant boost to India’s Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission.
• It will provide a major fillip to the indigenous defence industry in technology development and production.
• The anti-submarine warfare system will also enhance the anti-submarine warfare capability of the Indian Navy.

What is IADS?

• Integrated Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Defence Suits (IADS) is high-end underwater equipment that uses the latest technology. The system is designed to detect and protect warships from underwater threats.
• IADS is a versatile system that is capable of operations from all sizes of warships- small, medium and large. Under it, the complex array of sensors in water undertakes surveillance and provides inputs for the signal processing and analysis, in order to enable necessary action.