Contents
- Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee
- World Bank and Government of India sign $750 million Agreement
- NHAI to Rank Roads
Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee
Focus: GS 1, Post Independence Indian History
Why in news?
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee on 6th July 2020 on the occasion of his Jayanti
More about Dr. syama Prasad Mookerjee
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee is an example of great leadership and political milestone. He was born on July 6, 1901. He was the independent India’s first Minister of Industry and Supply and founder of Bharatiya Jana Sangh.
- Shyama Prasad Mukherjee was born in a Bengali family on 6th July 1901. His father Ashutosh Mukherjee was a judge of the Calcutta High Court.
- He started his initial education in Bhawanipur’s Mitra Institution in 1906. He passed his matriculation exam and was admitted to Presidency College.
- He stood seventeenth in the Inter-Arts Examination in 1916 and graduated in English, securing the first position in first class in 1921.
- He lost his father in 1924, the same year he enrolled as an advocate in Calcutta High Court.
- At the age of 33, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee became the youngest vice-chancellor of Calcutta University in 1934.
- During Mukherjee’s term as Vice-Chancellor, Rabindranath Tagore delivered the university convocation address in Bengali for the first time, and the Indian vernacular was introduced as a subject for the highest examination.
- Mukherjee demanded the partition of Bengal in 1946 to prevent the inclusion of its Hindu-majority areas in a Muslim-dominated East Pakistan. A meeting held by the Mahasabha on April 15, 1947, in Tarakeswar, authorised him to take steps for ensuring partition of Bengal.
- In May 1947, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee wrote a letter to Lord Mountbatten telling him that Bengal must be partitioned even if India was not. He also opposed a failed bid for a united but independent Bengal made in 1947 by Sarat Bose, the brother of Subhas Chandra Bose, and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, a Bengali Muslim politician.
- After he left the Indian National Congress due to difference of opinion with the then-Prime Minister Dr Jawaharlal Nehru on Jammu and Kashmir issues, he co- founded Janata Party in the year 1977-1979, which later on became the Bharatiya Janata Party.
- Shyama Prasad Mukherjee died after 40 days of being arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir State police for entering the state without permit. He passed away in jail under mysterious circumstances.
World Bank and Government of India sign $750 million Agreement
Focus: GS 3: Investment, MSME Sector
Why in news?
The World Bank and the Government of India today signed the $750 million agreement for the MSME Emergency Response Programme to support increased flow of finance into the hands of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
More about agreement.
The World Bank’s MSME Emergency Response Programme will address the immediate liquidity and credit needs of some 1.5 million viable MSMEs
Importance of MSMEs for Indian Economy
- Employment: It is the second largest employment generating sector after agriculture. It provides employment to around 120 million persons in India.
- Contribution to GDP: With around 36.1 million units throughout the geographical expanse of the country, MSMEs contribute around 6.11% of the manufacturing GDP and 24.63% of the GDP from service activities.
- MSME ministry has set a target to up its contribution to GDP to 50% by 2025 as India becomes a $5 trillion economy.
- Exports: It contributes around 45% of the overall exports from India.
- Inclusive growth: MSMEs promote inclusive growth by providing employment opportunities in rural areas especially to people belonging to weaker sections of the society.
- Financial inclusion: Small industries and retail businesses in tier-II and tier-III cities create opportunities for people to use banking services and products.
- Promote innovation: It provides opportunity for budding entrepreneurs to build creative products boosting business competition and fuels growth.
Thus, Indian MSME sector is the backbone of the national economic structure and acts as a bulwark for Indian economy, providing resilience to ward off global economic shocks and adversities.
NHAI to Rank Roads
Focus: GS 3: Infrastructure
Why in news?
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) under the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided to undertake performance assessment and ranking of the highways in the country.
More about news?
The criteria for the assessment have been broadly categorised in three main heads:
- Highway Efficiency (45%)
- Highway Safety (35%)
- User Services (20%).
On the basis of outcome of the assessment, the authority will undertake a comprehensive analysis and decide on the level of intervention required to enhance the overall service quality.
Importance of Roadways in India:
- It provides better connectivity between Rural and Urban area and hence advancement of Rural India occurs.
- During the transportation of goods from ports to its destination it is very important to have better Road connectivity so that time, fuel and money can be saved and hence ultimate economic development occurs.
- To link every remotest areas( example : J&K, Northeast part, mountainous regions etc) of this country with the mainstream of economy it’s very much important to have better connectivity so that overall development of those people can be ensured.
- Even road connectivity is very much important in linking Intra-state Urban areas and Inter-states for better transportation of various goods and services and hence for overall development in terms of saving time, money etc and reduction in pollution and CO2 emission level.
How it can be further improved:
- Govt have launched one initiative known as Bharatmala programme which connects all major cities of this country
- Quality of roads in many parts of country is still pity so it needs better attention by respective state govt and local govt to improve the quality of roads
- Road pricing system is very much important as it provides as income for Govt and it can spend on constructing roads in much better way
- Due to traffic congestion in cities and many times on highways , pollution level rise. So increasing width of roads in India should be a priority
Road accidents in India
- According to data tabled by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways in the Parliament, Road accidents in India killed between 1.46 lakh and 1.5 lakh people every year between 2015 and 2017, which works out to a daily average of 400 or more deaths in each of the three years.
- According to WHO report, road accidents are the eighth leading cause of death for all age groups surpassing HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and diarrhoeal diseases.
