Important Facts for Prelims (27th July 2018)

• 27 Jul 2018

Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana

• Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY) aims at the overall development of selected SC majority villages.
• It aims to provide them with all the necessary facilities to ensure that the disparity between SC and non-SC population in terms of common socio-economic indicators is eliminated and the indicators are raised to at least the level of the national average.
• The performance of the scheme is being monitored in terms of achievement of the targets listed out in the Village Development Plan (VDP) prepared for each village.
• Under the PMAGY, the National Institute of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj (NIRD&PR) has been identified to provide technical resource support at the national level.

Criteria for being Declared as Adarsh Village

As per the scheme, for a village to be declared as Adarsh village, a minimum of three of the targets listed below have to be achieved by the end of the third year of implementation of PMAGY:

• As far as possible, elimination of poverty, but reduction in its incidence by at least 50% within three years.
  Universal adult literacy
• 100% enrolment and retention of children at the elementary stage (I-VIII).
• Reduction of infant mortality rate (per thousand live births) to 30 and maternal mortality rate (per lakh) to 100, by 2012.
• Village should fulfil the Nirmal Gram Puraskar norms of the Deptt. of Drinking Water Supply, M/o Rural Development, ie, these villages should be 100 % open defecation free
• Access to safe drinking water facility to all villagers on a sustainable basis.
• 100% institutional deliveries for pregnant women
• Full immunisation of children
• Achieving all-weather road connectivity to the village
• 100% registration of deaths and births in the village
• No child marriages, and child labour
• No public consumption of liquor and other intoxicating substances
• 100% allotment of Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana (PMGAY) houses to all eligible families

Ramon Magsaysay Awards, 2018

Recently, two Indians have been named for the 2018 Ramon Magsaysay Awards.

• Sonam Wangchuk (an educational reformer from Ladakh) and Bharat Vatwani (a psychiatrist who works for mentally ill street persons in Mumbai) are among six winners of the award, which “celebrates the greatness of spirit and transformative leadership in Asia.”
• The others are Youk Chhang from Cambodia, Maria de Lourdes Martins Cruz from East Timor, Howard Dee from the Philippines and Vo Thi Hoang Yen from Vietnam.

Note:

• The Ramon Magsaysay Award, Asia’s premier prize and highest honour, celebrates the greatness of spirit and transformative leadership in Asia.
• The trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation select the awardees annually.
• Ramon del Fierro Magsaysay was the third president of the Republic of the Philippines after World War II.

Eight-lane Bridge coming across Pamban Strait

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has started preparing a detailed project report (DPR) for construction of a world-class eight-lane road bridge across Pamban Strait to connect Rameswaram Island with the mainland.

• The existing (2.345-km-long Annai Indira Gandhi Bridge) road bridge, which was more than 29 years old, would be used for light motor vehicles.
• The bridge would be built on the lines of Bandra-Worli Sea Link cable-stayed bridge in Mumbai as part of the four-lane road project of the 39-km-long Paramakudi-Ramanathapuram section and 63-km-long Ramanathapuram-Rameswaram section.