GS- 2 Paper
Topic covered- Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)
Context
Cabinet approves Establishment of an International Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
About CDRI
- The Union Cabinet has given ex-post facto approval for the Establishment of an International Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
- The CDRI is proposed to be launched at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York, USA on 23rd September 2019.
Background
- Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) was proposed by Indian Prime Minister, at the Hamburg G20 meet in 2017.
- CDRI will act as a convening body that will pool best practices and resources from around the world for reshaping construction, transportation, energy, telecommunication and water, so that building in these core infrastructure sectors factors in natural catastrophes.
The initiatives taken-
- Establishment of the International ‘C.D.R.I.’ along with its supporting Secretariat office in New Delhi.
- Establishment of the Secretariat of the CDRI as a Society under The Societies Registration Act,1860 in New Delhi as ‘CDRI Society’ or similar name as per availability.
- In-principle approval for Government of India support of Rs. 480 crore (approx. USD 70 million) to CDRI for a corpus required to fund technical assistance and research projects on an on-going basis.
- The charter will be finalized after taking inputs from potential member countries by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in consultation with the Ministry of External Affairs.
Major Impact-
- The CDRI will serve as a platform where knowledge is generated and exchanged on different aspects of disaster and climate resilience of infrastructure.
- It will bring together technical expertise from a multitude of stakeholders.
- In doing so, it will create a mechanism to assist countries to upgrade their capacities and practices, with regard to infrastructure development in accordance with their risk context and economic needs.
- This initiative will benefit all sections of society.
- Economically weaker sections of society, women and children, are the most vulnerable to the impacts of disasters and hence, will be benefitted from the improvement of knowledge and practice in creating disaster resilient infrastructure.
- It will also benefit all areas with high disaster risk. In India, the north-eastern and Himalayan regions are prone to earthquakes, coastal areas to cyclones and tsunamis and central peninsular region to droughts.
Significance
- Publication of natural hazard risk information about the different regions in India will allow the public to understand the risk in their regions and demand for risk mitigation and preparedness measures from their local and State Governments.
Innovation-
- There are many initiatives on different aspects of disaster risk reduction and many initiatives on infrastructure development in different in a range of countries with different disaster risk and development contexts.
Way forward
- A global coalition for disaster resilient infrastructure would address concerns that are common to developing and developed countries, small and large economies, countries at early and advanced stages of infrastructure development, and countries that have moderate or high disaster risk.
- Few concrete initiatives work at the intersection of Sendai Framework, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Climate Change Adaptation with a focus on infrastructure.
- Focus on disaster resilient infrastructure would simultaneously address the loss reduction targets under the Sendai Framework, address a number of SDGs and also contribute to climate change adaptation.
- Hence, there is a clear niche for a Global Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.
GS- 2 Paper
Topic covered– Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
National Medical Commission Bill (NMC)
Context
Cabinet approves amendments/changes in The National Medical Commission Bill, 2019.
About the NMC Bill
- The National Medical Commission Bill, 2019 was introduced by the Minister of Health and Family Welfare.
- The Bill seeks to repeal the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956.
- It provide for a medical education system which ensures-
- Availability of adequate and high quality medical professionals,
- Adoption of the latest medical research by medical professionals,
- Periodic assessment of medical institutions,
- An effective grievance redressal mechanism.
Key features of the Bill–
- Constitution of the National Medical Commission– The Bill sets up the National Medical Commission (NMC).
- Within three years of the passage of the Bill, state governments will establish State Medical Councils at the state level.
- The NMC will consist of 25 members, appointed by the central government.
- Functions of the National Medical Commission-
- Functions of the NMC include-
- Framing policies for regulating medical institutions and medical professionals,
- Assessing the requirements of healthcare related human resources and infrastructure,
- Ensuring compliance by the State Medical Councils of the regulations made under the Bill,
- Framing guidelines for determination of fees for up to 50% of the seats in private medical institutions and deemed universities which are regulated under the Bill.
- Medical Advisory Council– Under the Bill, the central government will constitute a Medical Advisory Council.
- The Council will be the primary platform through which the states/union territories can put forth their views and concerns before the NMC.
- Further, the Council will advise the NMC on measures to determine and maintain minimum standards of medical education.
- Autonomous boards: The Bill sets up autonomous boards under the supervision of the NMC.
- Each autonomous board will consist of a President and four members, appointed by the central government.
- These boards are-
- The Under-Graduate Medical Education Board (UGMEB)
- The Post-Graduate Medical Education Board (PGMEB
- The Medical Assessment and Rating Board (MARB
- The MARB will also grant permission for establishing a new medical college, starting any postgraduate course, or increasing the number of seats.
- The Ethics and Medical Registration Board.
- Only those included in the Register will be allowed to practice medicine. The Board will also maintain a separate National Register for community health providers.
- Community health providers: Under the Bill, the NMC may grant a limited license to certain mid-level practitioners connected with the modern medical profession to practice medicine.
- These mid-level practitioners may prescribe specified medicines in primary and preventive healthcare.
- Entrance examinations: There will be a uniform National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test for admission to under-graduate and post-graduate super-speciality medical education in all medical institutions regulated under the Bill.
- The NMC will specify the manner of conducting common counselling for admission in all such medical institutions.
- The Bill proposes a common final year undergraduate examination called the National Exit Test for the students graduating from medical institutions to obtain the license for practice. This test will also serve as the basis for admission into post-graduate courses at medical institutions under this Bill.
Significance
- The Bill seeks to regulate medical education and practice in India.
- The Bill attempts to tackle two main things on quality and quantity: Corruption in medical education and shortage of medical professionals.
- The Bill aims to overhaul the corrupt and inefficient Medical Council of India, which regulates medical education and practice and replace with National medical commission.
GS- 2 Paper
Topic covered– Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.
‘ShaGun’ – a web-portal for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan
Context
Union Human Resource Development Minister launched one of world’s largest Integrated Online Junction for – School Education ‘Shagun’ in New Delhi.
About ShaGun
- School Education Shagun is an over-arching initiative to improve school education system by creating a junction for all online portals and websites relating to various activities of the Department of School Education and Literacy in the Government of India and all States and Union Territories.
- ‘ShaGun’ aims to capture and showcase innovations and progress in Elementary Education sector of India by continuous monitoring of the flagship scheme – Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
- ShaGun, which has been coined from the words ‘Shala’ meaning Schools and ‘Gunvatta’ meaning Quality.
Function
- It will create a repository with an engaging interface that focuses on positive stories and developments in the field of School Education.
- In this repository, best practices will be documented in the form of videos, testimonials, case studies, and images, which will display state-level innovations and success stories that are driving improvements in performance under SSA.
- This repository has a decentralized management structure that enables State governments to choose, upload and manage their own content.
- It has an online monitoring module to measure state-level performance and progress against key educational indicators.
- It has been developed to collect and report data which will enable the government and administrators to track the efficiency with which SSA funds are being utilized and the results that this is delivering.
Integrated National School Education Treasury (INSET)
- An INSET has been announced by the Government to be set up.
- It will envisage a fully integrated, instantly accessible and seamless information network for all parameters relating to the students, teachers, and schools in the country.
The main focus will be on the following areas-
- Reinforcing and cleaning the data of the Integrated Online Junction through feedback from Stakeholders
- Ensuring full inter-operability among the websites, portals and applications which are already hosted in the junction
- Creating high quality e-contents, including quizzes and puzzles to enhance learning and also for teachers in aiding classroom transactions
- Using artificial intelligence and deep machine learning in a variety of ways to enhance the quality of school education including for designing evidence based inventions.
For Prelims-
New National Cyber Security Strategy
Context
12th India Security Summit on “Towards New National Cyber Security Strategy” held in New Delhi.
Highlights
- Theme- “Towards New National Cyber Security Strategy”
- The New National Cyber Security Strategy aims to sensitize organizations toward the need to enhance maturity of security practices.
- It aims to elevate the security function within organizations esp. in critical sectors and e-governance.
- Enhanced collaboration between government and industry on cyber security matters.
- Increase in demand for security professionals including implementers, managers, auditors, trainers. Hence, creation of new jobs.
- Increased investments in security giving boost to cyber security products and services market in India.
- Better coordinated R&D through collaboration of government, industry and academia.
- Sensitization of citizens, consumers and employees on cyber security threats and basic and best practices.
- Sensitization towards protection of personal information against cyber threats and in pursuance of security programs.
National Awards for Community Radio for 2018 and 2019
Context
Union Minister presented the National Awards for Community Radio for 2018 and 2019.
Highlights
- Radio Sharda, Jammu and Kashmir, a community radio service operating from Jammu won two awards at the National Awards for Community Radio.
- Friends Radio, Tripura won the first prize for its programme health and women in the thematic category for 2019.
- The second prize was won by Salaam Namaste, Uttar Pradesh, for its Programme Salaam Shakti.
- Awards were given away in five categories.
- The Seventh Community Radio Sammelan will be held in New Delhi.
- The Sammelan, being organized by Ministry of Information & Broadcasting.
