Daily Current Affairs for UPSC IAS: 19th October 2022

National Conference On Tourist Police Scheme:

Union Ministry of Tourism in co-ordination with Ministry of Home Affairs and the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) is organising the national conference of director generals/inspector generals of police department of all states and Union territories “in connection with implementation of uniform Tourist Police Scheme at pan India level.

• The agenda of the Conference is implementation of uniform Tourist Police Scheme at pan-India level for developing the tourist specific policing.
• It also aim to provide safer ecosystem to the foreign and domestic tourists in and around tourist destinations.

Tourist Police Scheme:

• Under the scheme, a pool of trained policemen would be made available to render policing service to the tourists and would control the crimes at the places of tourist interest.
• The rules of the district police of the concerned state shall be applicable to the Tourist Police, unless the contrary appears from the content or from rules in this scheme.
• Tourist Police Station will work under the jurisdiction of district police (Superintendent of Police) for all policing purpose.

Single Integrated Pensioners Portal:

Union Minister of state for Science and Technology recently launched the Single Integrated Pensioners’ Portal.

• Single Integrated Pensioners’ Portal developed in collaboration with State Bank of India and aimed at “Ease of Living” for the Central Government Pensioners.
• All the remaining 16 Pension disbursing banks shall now begin their integration with BHAVISHYA.
• Bhavishya 9.0 version was being released recently with its integration with the Pension Disbursing Banks.

BHAVISHYA:

• BHAVISHYA is a Portal for Pension Payment and Tracking System is being integrated with Pension Seva portal of SBI and will enable Pensioners to get all information and services at one place with single login.
• On completion of all phases of this integration the retirees can choose a Bank and Branch for opening an online Pension Account, check their monthly pension slips, Form 16, Status of Life Certificate as well as change their Pension Disbursing Bank through BHAVISHYA.
• ‘Bhavishya’ platform was made mandatory for all central government departments since 01.01.2017.
• BHAVISHYA has recently been rated as the 3rd best portal among all Government of India service portals by National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA).

Global Multidimensional Poverty Index MPI 2022:

The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 2022 was released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI).

Key Highlights of the Index:

Global Data:

• 1.2 billion people are multidimensionally poor.
• Nearly half of them live in severe poverty.
• Half of poor people (593 million) are children under age 18
• The number of poor people is highest in Sub Saharan Africa (579 million), followed by South Asia (385 million). The two regions together are home to 83% of poor people.

Key Findings about India:

• India has by far the largest number of poor people worldwide at 22.8 crore, followed by Nigeria at 9.6 crore.
• Two-thirds of these people live in a household in which at least one person is deprived of nutrition.
• The incidence of poverty fell from 55.1% in 2005/06 to 16.4% in 2019/21 in the country.
• The deprivations in all 10 MPI indicators saw significant reductions as a result of which the MPI value and incidence of poverty more than halved.
• As many as 41.5 crore people moved out of poverty in India during the 15-year period between 2005-06 and 2019-21.
• Improvement in MPI for India has significantly contributed to the decline in poverty in South Asia.
• South Asia now has not the lowest number of poor people than Sub-Saharan Africa..

Performance of States:

• Bihar, the poorest state in 2015-16, saw the fastest reduction in MPI value in absolute terms.
• The percentage of poor in Bihar fell from 77.4 % in 2005-06 to 52.4 % in 2015-16 and further to 34.7 % in 2019-21.
• Of the 10 poorest states in 2015/2016, only one (West Bengal) have emerged out of the list in 2019-21.
• The rest (Bihar, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan) remain among the 10 poorest.
• Across states and union territories in India, the fastest reduction in relative terms was in Goa, followed by Jammu and Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.
• Poverty among children fell faster in absolute terms, although India still has the highest number of poor children in the world.
• More than one in five children in India are poor compared with around one in seven adults.

National Highways Infra Trust (NHAI InvIT):

According to the Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, National Highways Infra Trust (NHAI InvIT) is looking to raise additional ₹3,800 crore and around Rs 1,500 crore were being garnered through an issue of non-convertible debentures (NCDs) with a long-dated maturity of 24 years.

• These InvIT bonds will be listed on BSE and NSE, providing an opportunity for investors to invest and trade.
• NHAI InvIT is the infrastructure investment trust sponsored by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to support the government’s National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP).
• NHAI’s InvIT is a Trust established by NHAI under the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 and SEBI (Security and Exchange Board of India) regulations.
• The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved the NHAI’s Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) in December 2019.

InvITs:

• Infrastructure investment trusts are institutions similar to mutual funds, which pool investments from various categories of investors and invest them into completed and revenue-generating infrastructure projects, thereby creating returns for the investor.
• The capital market regulator notified the SEBI (Infrastructure Investment Trusts) Regulations, 2014 on September 26, 2014, and these trusts are likely to help facilitate investment in the infrastructure sector.
• Structured like mutual funds, they have a trustee, sponsor(s), investment manager and project manager.
• While the trustee (certified by Sebi) has the responsibility of inspecting the performance of an InvIT, sponsor(s) are promoters of the company that set up the InvIT.

Learning Losses:

World Bank held a discussion on the “Learning Losses”

• Learning losses in terms of education due to COVID:
  • World Bank-UNESCO-UNICEF report: Learning losses from COVID-19 could cost this generation of students close to $17 trillion in lifetime earnings.
  • Learning losses were greater for students of lower socioeconomic status in countries like Ghana, Mexico, and Pakistan.
  • Larger losses among girls, as they are quickly losing the protection that schools and learning offer to their well-being and life chances.

India’s First Aluminum Freight Rake:

Union Minister for Railways inaugurated India’s First Aluminum Freight Rake named – 61 BOBRNALHSM1 at Bhubaneswar Railway Station.

• This is a dedicated effort for the Make in India program as it has been fully designed and developed indigenously in collaboration with RDSO, HINDALCO and Besco Wagon.
• Reduce Carbon Footprint: It will reduce carbon footprint as lower consumption of fuel in empty directions and more transport of freight in a loaded condition. As a single rake can save over 14,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide over its lifetime.
• As per an estimate, around 15 million tonnes of carbon emissions can be saved in a year even if just 5% of the 2 lakh railway wagons that the Central government plans to introduce are aluminum-made.
• Reduce Imports: The iron industry consumes a lot of Nickel and Cadmium which comes from imports.
• So, a proliferation of Aluminum wagons will result in less import.
• Consumes Less Energy: The new aluminum rakes are reportedly 180 tonnes lighter than the current steel rakes.
• The carrying capacity of the new design is said to be 5%-10% more than their steel counterparts.
• More importantly, they consume less energy with relatively negligible wear and tear to rolling stock and rails.
• Net Zero Carbon Emission: it would help the Indian Railways to achieve net zero Carbon Emissions by 2030 to become the world’s largest Green Railway.

One Nation One Fertilizer Scheme:

PM Modi launched Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Urvarak Pariyojana, also known as ‘One Nation One Fertiliser’ during the two-day event PM Kisan Samman Sammelan 2022.

• Under it, fertilizer companies must market all subsidised fertilisers under a single brand ‘Bharat’.
• With the launch of this scheme, India will have a common bag design across the country like Bharat urea, Bharat DAP, Bharat MOP, Bharat NPK, and so on.
• The rationale is that since fertilizers of a particular category must meet the nutrient-content specifications of the Fertilizer Control Order (FCO), there is no product differentiation among different brands for each type of fertilizer.
• Also, brand preferences by farmers have resulted in fertilizer-supply delays to farmers and an extra burden on the exchequer due to increased freight subsidies needing to be paid for the long-distance crisscross movement of fertilizers.