India recently celebrated its 75th Independence Day on August 15, 2021.
‘Nation First, Always First’ is the theme of India’s 75th Independence Day celebrations.
The Prime Minister of India while addressing the nation mentioned various schemes and programmes to highlight the efforts taken by the government in recent times.
We have tried to compile various key points of the PM Independence day address. A quick revision will help the aspirants to solve the question in UPSC CSE-2021 Preliminary Examination.
India began the "World's Largest Vaccination Program" on January 16, 2021 in the fight against COVID-19, with the approval of two made-in-India COVID-19 vaccines; Covishield and Covaxin.
Covaxin is an inactivated vaccine whereas Covishield is a live vaccine.
The government has launched the Co-WIN application for the registration of the citizens and to generate digital certificates of vaccination.
Co-WIN is a cloud-based IT platform which handles the minute details for India’s Covid-19 immunisation programme, including registering beneficiaries, allocating vaccination centres, sending text messages with the name of their vaccinator to beneficiaries and live monitoring of vials in cold storage.
The platform is owned by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHWA).
MeitY along with the National Informatics Centreare responsible for handling the tech infrastructure of the app.
Amrit Kaal
In his 75th Independence day speech, the Prime Minister of India referred to the period of next 25 years as the Amrit Kaal for India and her citizens.
The purpose of Amrit Kaal is:
To better the lives of citizens
Lessen the development divide between villages and city
Reduce government interference in people's lives and
Have the latest technology so that India is not behind any country in the world.
India started with the spirit of ‘SabkaSaath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas’ and now SabkaPrayas (collaborative effort of all) is added as a very important aspect for the achievement of India’s goals for development.
It is for the first time that these institutions have been allowed in a scheme for the urban poor due to their ground level presence and proximity to them.
The mission envisages supply of 55 litres of water per person per day to every rural household through Functional Household Tap Connections (FHTCs) by 2024.
The Jal Shakti Ministryis the nodal ministry for the implementation of the scheme.
The fund sharing pattern between the Centre and states is 90:10 for Himalayan and North-Eastern States, 50:50 for other states, and 100% for Union Territories.
In 2020, Goa became the first 'Har Ghar Jal' State in the country by successfully providing 100% FHTCs in the rural areas.
Delimitation is the act of fixing or redrawing the limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies (Assembly or Lok Sabha seat) in a country or a province having a legislative body.
It is carried out by an independent high-powered panel known as the Delimitation Commission whose orders cannot be questioned by any court.
The Ministry of Earth Sciences is the nodal ministry implementing the mission.
It will be a mission mode project to support the Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India.
India will become the sixth country in the world to have the technology and expertise needed for such missions.
The technology and expertise needed in such missions is now available with only five countries - US, Russia, France, Japan and China.
India will now be the sixth country to have it.
Major Components:
Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining, and Manned Submersible.
Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services.
Technological Innovations for Exploration and Conservation of Deep-sea Biodiversity.
Bio-prospecting of deep sea flora and fauna including microbes and studies on sustainable utilization of deep sea bio-resources will be the main focus.
The Cooperative Movement in India began in the last quarter of the 19th century.
Several informal cooperatives existed by the names of Devarai, Chit Funds, Kuries, Bhishies, Phads etc.
The first Cooperative Credit Societies Act was passed in 1904 and was later amended by the Cooperative Societies Act, 1912.
Mahatma Gandhi introduced the 'Phoenix Settlement' as a cooperative in a socialistic pattern and the Tolstoy Farm as a rehabilitation cooperative settlement.
After independence, cooperatives became an integral part of Five-Year Plans (FYPs).
Constitutional Provisions:
The Constitution (97th Amendment) Act, 2011 added a new Part IXB right after Part IXA (Municipals) regarding the cooperatives working in India.
The word “cooperatives” was added after “unions and associations” in Article 19(1)(c) under Part III of the Constitution.
This enables all the citizens to form cooperatives by giving it the status of fundamental right of citizens.
The scheme was introduced to provide adequate and timely credit support to the farmers for their cultivation and agricultural purchases.
KCC covers post-harvest expenses, consumption requirements of farmer households, investment credit requirements for agriculture and allied activities etc.
KCC is implemented by Commercial Banks, RRBs, Small Finance Banks and Cooperatives.
The KCC saturation campaign provides KCC loans to farmers who have not been given such loans.
It comes with an ATM-enabled RuPay debit card for any number of drawals within the limit.
Kisan Rails are the first ever multi commodity trains.
The Indian Railways introduced the first Kisan Rail from Devlali (Maharashtra) to Danapur (Bihar).
These trains with refrigerated coaches will help in bringing perishable agricultural products like vegetables, fruits to the market in a short period of time.
Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) was launched as a regional connectivity scheme in 2016.
It aims to create affordable yet economically viable and profitable flights on regional routes so that flying becomes affordable to the common man even in small towns.
UDAN 4.1 focuses on connecting smaller airports, along with special helicopter and seaplane routes.
It is an initiative of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA).
INS Vikrant, likely to be commissioned in 2022, is India’s first Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC).
Currently, India has only one aircraft carrier, the Russian-origin INS Vikramaditya.
The combat capability, reach and versatility of the aircraft carrier will add formidable capabilities in the defence in the country and help secure India's interests in the maritime domain.
It aims at reducing the population of old and defective vehicles, bringing down vehicular air pollutants, improving road and vehicular safety.
Old vehicles will have to pass a fitness test before re-registration and as per the policy government commercial vehicles more than 15 years old and private vehicles which are over 20 years old will be scrapped.
Ethanol is one of the principal biofuels, which is naturally produced by the fermentation of sugars by yeasts or via petrochemical processes such as ethylene hydration.
The Ethanol Blending Programme (EBP) aims at blending ethanol with petrol, thereby bringing it under the category of biofuels and saving millions of dollars by cutting fuel imports and decreasing carbon emissions.
The Government of India has advanced the target for 20% ethanol blending in petrol (also called E20) to 2025 from 2030.
Currently, 8.5% of ethanol is blended with petrol in India.
NCBC has the authority to examine complaints and welfare measures regarding socially and educationally backward classes.
102nd Constitution Amendment Act, 2018 provides constitutional status to the NCBC.
The members of NCBC are appointed by the President of India.
Article 340 deals with the need to, inter alia, identify those "socially and educationally backward classes", understand the conditions of their backwardness, and make recommendations to remove the difficulties they face.
Mission Karmayogi’ - the National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB) is aimed at building a future-ready civil service with the right attitude, skills and knowledge, aligned to the vision of New India.
The iGOT Karmayogi digital platform provides the content drawn from global best practices.
The scheme will cover 46 lakh central government employees, at all levels.
NPCSCB will be governed by the Prime Minister’s Human Resource Council, which will also include state Chief Ministers, Union Cabinet ministers, and experts.
The Union Budget for 2021-22 has announced a NHM that will draw up a road map for using hydrogen as an energy source.
It focusses on generation of hydrogen from green power resources.
It aims to link India’s growing renewable capacity with the hydrogen economy.
The usage of hydrogen will not only help India in achieving its emission goals under the Paris Agreement, but will also reduce import dependency on fossil fuels.
Food fortification refers to deliberately increasing the content of essential micronutrients so as to improve the nutritional quality of the food supply.
The FSSAI operationalized the Food Safety and Standards (Fortification of Foods) Regulations, 2016 for fortifying staples namely:
Wheat Flour and Rice (with Iron, Vitamin B12 and Folic Acid)
Milk and Edible Oil (with Vitamins A and D)
Double Fortified Salt (with Iodine and Iron)
Biofortification is the process by which the nutritional quality of food crops is improved through agronomic practices, conventional plant breeding, or modern biotechnology. Examples of Biofortified crops:
Rice- CR DHAN 315 has excess zinc.
Wheat- HI 1633 rich in protein, iron and zinc.
Maize- Hybrid varieties enriched with lysine and tryptophan.
Poshan Vatika will ensure supply of nutrition through organically home grown vegetables and fruits simultaneously ensuring that the soil must also remain healthy.
Aurobindo Ghosh
Sri Aurobindo Ghosh was a philosopher, poet, and Indian nationalist who propounded the philosophy of divine life on earth through spiritual evolution.
From 1902 to 1910 Aurobindo partook in the struggle to free India and was known as a revolutionary nationalist.
He helped in establishing the Anushilan Samiti of Calcutta in 1902.
The Bande Mataram was an English language weekly newspaper published from Calcutta (now Kolkata) founded in 1905 by Bipin Chandra Pal and edited by Sri Aurobindo Ghosh.
He was arrested in connection with the Alipore Conspiracy Case or Alipore Bomb Case in 1908.
This was in the wake of the attempt to assassinate the Chief Presidency Magistrate Douglas Kingford by Khudiram Bose and Prafulla Chaki.
In 1910, he fled British India and found refuge in the French colony of Pondichéry where he devoted himself for the rest of his life to the development of his “integral” yoga.
He founded a community of spiritual seekers which took shape as the Sri Aurobindo Ashram in 1926.
