India reminds Pakistan it must act soon on curbing terror financing                    

Rajasthan to implement Ayushman Bharat                                                               

Odisha bid to improve attendance in schools                                                           

Odisha comes up with a flood atlas, aided by satellite imagery                             

Nepalese nationals must have a visa to enter India via Pakistan, China                

India reminds Pakistan it must act soon on curbing terror financing

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - India and its neighborhood- relations.

Context :

• India has said that it expects Pakistan to implement steps agreed with the international Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to eliminate funding to terrorist groups operating from its soil.

More about the news:

• In a recent plenary meeting in Orlando, Florida, The international terror financing watchdog, FATF, decided to keep Pakistan on its greylist for failure to curb financing of funds to terror groups Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and others.

• The FATF raised concerns that that not only did Pakistan "fail to complete its action plan items with January deadlines, it also failed to complete its action plan items due May 2019.

• Pakistan has not shown any action against terrorist assets — armories, weapons, explosives, camps. FATF has asked for more detailed action and reporting on this. In addition, Pakistan’s anti-terror laws are not yet in conformity with FATF guidelines.

• The FATF gave Pakistan a list of 10 demands to fulfil. These are part of the 27-point action plan Pakistan has to complete by October, 2019.

  • For the second time, FATF criticised Pakistan for its failure to “demonstrate a proper understanding of Pakistan’s transnational TF (terror financing) risk.

• India expect Pakistan to take all necessary steps to effectively implement the FATF Action Plan fully within the remaining time frame i.e. by September 2019.in accordance with its political commitment to the FATF and take credible, verifiable, irreversible and sustainable measures to address global concerns related to terrorism and terrorist financing emanating from any territory under its control.

• This follows a strong warning to Pakistan by the FATF which states that the country could be blacklisted unless it fulfils an "action plan" against UN-designated terrorists operating on its soil by October.

Pakistan Status :

• Pakistan has been under the FATF’s scanner since June, 2018, when it was put on the greylist for terror financing and money laundering risks, after an assessment of its financial system and law enforcement mechanisms.

• In June 2018, Pakistan gave a high-level political commitment to work with the FATF and the Asia Pacific Group (APG) to strengthen its anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) regime.

  • Based on this commitment, Pakistan and the FATF agreed on the monitoring of 27 indicators under a 10-point action plan, with deadlines.

• Successful implementation of the action plan and its physical verification by the APG will move Pakistan out of the greylist; failure by Pakistan will result in its blacklisting by September 2019.

• FATF wants to see effective implementation of targeted financial sanctions against all terrorists designated under UN Security Council Resolutions 1267 and 1373.

• The Joint Group of the APG has recently informed Pakistan that the country’s compliance on 10 of the 27 indicators is unsatisfactory, though the FATF has agreed that there have been improvements in the AML/CFT regime and the integrated database for currency declaration arrangements.

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

Rajasthan to implement Ayushman Bharat

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and the States and the performance of these schemes.

Context :

• The Rajasthan government has decided to implement Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in the state after months-long deliberations over the flagship healthcare scheme.

More about the news:

• AB-PMJAY will be integrated with Rajasthan government’s existing health scheme — Bhamashah Swasthya Bima Yojana (BSBY).

• Currently, Rajasthan is providing benefits to 97 lakh families under the BSBY. Many of eligible families under the AB-PMJDY are already covered under the BSBY.

Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) :

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 23, 2018 launched the flagship scheme 'Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana' (PMJAY), also known as Ayushman Bharat or the National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM).

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme having central sector component under Ayushman Bharat Mission anchored in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

  • 60 percent contribution from the Centre and the remaining from the states.

•  It is an umbrella of two major health initiatives, namely Health and Wellness Centres and National  Health Protection Scheme.

Key Features :

• Ayushman Bharat, the government-sponsored health insurance scheme, will provide free coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year in any government or even empanelled private hospitals all over India.

• Launched with an aim to help the poor and the economically deprived, the scheme will be available for 10.74 crore beneficiary families and about 50 crore Indian citizens.

• This scheme will strengthen the healthcare services in India. Around 13000 hospitals in the country have been coordinated for the implementation of the scheme.

• The benefit cover will also include pre and post-hospitalisation expenses. All pre-existing conditions will be covered from day one of the policy.

• A defined transport allowance per hospitalisation will also be paid to the beneficiary.

• The scheme allows the beneficiary to take cashless benefits from any public or private empanelled hospitals across the country.

          Eligible Criteria :

• The scheme aims to target poor and vulnerable population of the country, based on the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011 (SECC) database.

• There will be no cap on family size and age in the scheme.

Implementing Agency :

• At the national level to manage, a National Health Agency has been set up.

• States/ UTs are advised to implement the scheme by a dedicated entity called State Health Agency (SHA).

                                                                                                                      Source :- The Hindu

Odisha bid to improve attendance in schools

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

 Context :

• In a bid to improve attendance in schools, the Odisha government on Saturday decided to give transportation cost to students who stay more than a kilometre away from their schools.

Cash Incentives to Students :

• Transportation cost to students  , This comes with a rider because only students with an attendance of more than 30 percent will get the transportation allowance.

• The conveyance allowance will vary from Rs 600 to Rs 300 per month as conveyance allowance.

• The students who used to travel at least one kilo metre to their respective schools will be entitled for transport conveyance allowance.

•  It will be implemented in direct cash transfer mode and the allowance will be transferred to the bank accounts of parents

• Those students who will have 75% or more attendance will be paid Rs 600 monthly allowance each while Rs 400 will be paid to student having 50%-75% attendance.

• Rs 300 will be disbursed to students with 30% to 50% attendance.

• However the students will less than 30% will not be entitled for conveyance allowance

                                                                                                                                           Source :- The Hindu

Odisha comes up with a flood atlas, aided by satellite imagery

GS PAPER - 03 DISASTER MANAGEMENT - Disaster and disaster management.

Context :

• Odisha Chief Minister released a unique flood hazard atlas, which is expected to help the State manage floods more efficiently.

Flood Hazard Atlas :

• Flood hazard atlas on the basis of historic flood inundation captured through satellite imagery over the period from 2001 to 2018

• The atlas prepared by the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Hyderabad had taken the study on flood hazard zonation for Odisha.

Need of Flood Hazard Atlas :

• "Odisha is a flood prone state.

• About 8.96% (13.96 lakh hectares) of land in Odisha was affected by floods during 2001-2018.
   

• Out of total flood-affected area (13.96 lakh hectares), about 2.81 lakh hectares of land falls under high (inundated 7-9 times) to very high (inundated 10-14 times) flood hazard categories.
   

• Eight out of 30 districts such as Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur, Balasore, Puri, Jajpur, Khordha and Cuttack districts are more flood-affected districts. As high as 77% of Bhadrak and 70% of the Kendrapara district have been categorised as flood hazard.

Significance :

• It is expected to help the State manage floods more efficiently.

  • This atlas will help identify the disaster prone areas of the state so that necessary plans can be made to tackle the situation.

                                                                                                                                                        Source :- The Hindu

CJI Writes To PM Seeking Steps To Increase Retirement Age Of Judges, SC Strength

GS PAPER - 02 POLITY - Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.

Context :

• The Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take steps to raise the retirement of High Court judges as 65 year and to increase the strength of SC.

To tackle problem of Huge case Backlogs:

Increase the strength of SC :

• The Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi has batted for Constitutional amendments to raise the retirement age of High Court judges to 65 years and to increase the strength of judges in the Supreme Court.

  • The Supreme Court currently has a pendency of more than 58,000 cases.

  • Inadequate judge strength is holding back the CJI from constituting Constitution Benches to hear cases concerning the interpretation of the Constitution.

• Increase in the Retirement age :

  • Further, CJI has requested for Constitutional amendment to increase the retirement age of High Court judges from 62 to 65.

    • He has pointed out pendency of the 43 lakh cases in 24 High  Courts and the lack of judge strength in High Courts to deal with the same.

  • The letter states that posts of 399 High Court judges or 37 percent of sanctioned judge strength are lying vacant and despite best efforts by stakeholders, it has not been able to appoint judges to bring the working strength of High Courts upto the sanctioned strength.

  • Hence, CJI Gogoi has suggested increasing the retirement age of judges to 65 as that would help reduce vacancy and thus, tackle arrears.

                                                                                                                       Source :- The Hindu

Nepalese nationals must have a visa to enter India via Pakistan, China

GS PAPER - 02 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS - India and its neighborhood- relations.

Context :

• According to a notice issued by Nepalese Embassy in New Delhi, Nepalese nationals is required to have a visa if they are entering India from Pakistan, China, Hong Kong and Macau.

More about the news :

• Nepalese nationals travelling to Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain and Lebanon, are required to acquire No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the respective Nepalese Embassies.

• To get the NOC, a traveller is required to submit an application to the respective embassy along with relevant documents, including employment permit

Why Such a move ?

• An open border allows Nepalese nationals an easy path to enter India and some of whom subsequently travel to Gulf countries for work.

  • Thus, the decision that a Nepalese citizens now mandatory require NOC to enter Gulf countries via India, is taken amid rising security concerns.

• However in the past, no separate permit was required to travel any country through Indian immigration clearance.

• As per existing rule, a citizen of Nepal entering India by land/air directly from Nepal does not require a passport/Visa, but is required to possess an identity card that establishes his/her identity as a Nepalese national.

• However, for security reasons a citizen of Nepal is generally asked for Passport when entering India from a place other than Nepal.

                                                                                                                                                             Source :- The Hindu​

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