Contents

1. National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)
2. Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY)
3. SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas)
4. NCAVES India Forum-2021
5. POSHAN Abhiyaan

NATIONAL INTERNET EXCHANGE OF INDIA (NIXI) 

Focus: GS 2;Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.

Why in News?

NIXI Offers free Domain in Local Indian Languages

About NIXI

• The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) is a non-profit Company incorporated under Section 25 of the India Companies Act, 1956 (now section 8 under Companies Act 2013) with an objective of facilitating improved internet services in the country.
• It was registered on 19 June 2003.
• Its Primary purpose is to facilitate exchange of domestic Internet traffic between the peering Internet service provider (ISP), Content players and any other organizations with their own Autonomous system (AS) number.
• This enables more efficient use of international bandwidth, saving foreign exchange and also improves the Quality of Services (QoS) for Internet users by avoiding multiple international hops and thus reducing latency.
• NIXI is managed and operated on a neutral basis and currently has eight operational NOC located in Delhi (Noida), Mumbai (Vashi), Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Guwahati .
• The Vision of NIXI is to Promote Internet.
• NIXI is India’s First and Only Neutral Internet Exchange
• Since 2005, NIXI has also created INRegistry (.in domain) as its autonomous body for maintenance of .IN domain.
• Since December 2012, NIXI also manages the National Internet Registry of the country delegation Internet Protocol addresses (IPv4 and IPv6) and Autonomous System numbers to its Affiliates.

Mission of NIXI

• To Promote Internet.
• To set up, when needed, in select location(s)/parts/regions of India Internet Exchanges/Peering Points.
• To enable effective and efficient routing, peering, transit and exchange of the Internet traffic within India.
• To continuously work for enhancing and improving the quality of Internet and Broadband services.
• Set up. Internet Domain Name Operations and related activities.

About Recent news related to NIXI

• The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) announced that it will offer a free IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) in any of their preferred 22 official Indian language along with every IN domain booked by the registrant.
• Applicant will also get a free email in local language.
• This offer has been created to stimulate the adoption of भारत (IDN) domain name and proliferation of local language content.

PRADHAN MANTRI ROJGAR PROTSAHAN YOJANA (PMRPY) 

Focus: GS 2;Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Why in News?

Year End Review- 2020: Ministry of Labour and Employment

About Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY)

• In order to incentivise the employers for new employment generation, the Government of India designed the Pradhan Mantri Rojgar Protsahan Yojana (PMRPY) Scheme.
• Under the scheme, the employers would be paid the EPS contribution of 8.33% for every new employment created, by the government.
• The scheme has been operational since August 2016.
• The scheme is being implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
• The scheme would be operated for three years and the Central Government will pay 8.33% EPS employers’ contribution for the next three years.
• That is, all new employees who are eligible will be covered under this scheme till 2019-20.
• All establishments registered with Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) under EPF Act 1952 can apply for availing benefits under the scheme.
• They need to have a valid Labour identification Number (LN) allotted to them under the Shram Suvidha Portal.

Benefits of PMRPY

• The employer is incentivized for increasing the employment base of workers in the establishment.
• A huge number of workers would find jobs in such establishments.
• A direct benefit is that these workers will have access to social security benefits of the organized sector.

SVAMITVA (SURVEY OF VILLAGES AND MAPPING WITH IMPROVISED IN VILLAGE AREAS)

Focus: GS 2;Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Why in News?

Year End Review 2020- Ministry of Panchayati Raj

About SVAMITVA

• Survey of villages and mapping with improvised technology in village areas or SVAMITVA scheme is a Central Government initiative to enable an integrated property validation solution for rural India.
• It is a Central Sector Scheme (100% by Union Government) implemented by Union Ministry of Panchayat Raj.
• It was launched on April 24, 2020, which is also the National Panchayat Day.
• In each state, the Revenue Department / Land Records Department, along with the State Panchayati Raj Department and the Nodal Ministry will work to carry out the objectives of the scheme
• It is aimed at “providing ‘record of rights’ to village household owners possessing houses in inhabited rural areas in villages and issuance of property cards to the property owners.”
• SVAMITVA Property cards will be provided to the landowners by the Government authorities, under this scheme
• Drone Surveying technology and Continuously Operating Reference Station (CORS) will be used for demarcation of rural abadi areas.
• According to the framework, the orthorectified base maps shall be jointly owned by the Survey of India, Ministry of Panchayati Raj and the state government.
• The Geographic Information System (GIS) data will also be jointly owned by Centre and State. 

Benefit of issuing a SVAMITVA property card

• Access Credit & Benefits
• Tax Collection
• Enhances Liquidity of assets
• Developmental Planning

NCAVES INDIA FORUM-2021

Focus: GS 3;Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.

Why in News?

Natural Capital Accounting and Valuation of the Ecosystem Services (NCAVES) India Forum-2021

About NCAVES India Forum-2021

• NCAVES India Forum 2021 is being organised by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
• The NCAVES Project, funded by EU, has been jointly implemented by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). 
• India is one of the five countries taking part in this project – the other countries being Brazil, China, South Africa and Mexico. 
• In India, the NCAVES project is being implemented by the MoSPI in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC) and the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC).
• MoSPI has coordinated with all the stakeholders through a consultative process by setting in place a mechanism for linking the diverse stakeholders concerned namely producers and the policymakers using the environmental accounts.
• The participation in the project has helped MOSPI commence the compilation of the Environment Accounts as per the UN-SEEA framework and release environmental accounts in its publication “EnviStats India” on an annual basis since 2018.
• Several of these accounts are closely related to the social and economic attributes, making them a useful tool for the Policy.
• Another feather to the cap under the NCAVES project is the development of the India-EVL Tool which is essentially a look-up tool giving a snapshot of the values of various ecosystem services in the different States of the country, based on about 80 studies conducted across the country.
• An additional benefit of this tool is that it provides a critical view on the literature that is available and the applicability of estimates spatially across India according to bio-geographical areas.
• A web portal www.ncavesindiaforum.in has been designed for the purpose of registration, participation and to function as a repository for the environment related information. 

About EnviStats India Report 2020

• National Statistical Office (NSO) released the state-wise data in the EnviStats India 2020 report.
• The report covers the biophysical aspects of the environment and those aspects of the socio-economic system that directly influence and interact with the environment.
• The average number of heat wave days has increased by 82.6% year-on-year to 157 in 2019 with the highest number recorded in Rajasthan followed by Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
• The deaths due to acute respiratory infection in 2018 were 3,740, this was the highest in six years, the highest number of deaths were reported in West Bengal.
• In 2018, the particulate matter of size less than or equal to 10 µm was the highest in Delhi followed by Ahmedabad and Mumbai.
• The tube well and hand pump were the primary source of drinking water in rural India with a share of 53.8%.
• On the other hand, piped water, public tap, standpipe were the primary source in urban areas with a share of 65%.
• Andhra Pradesh had the highest number of slum population followed by Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
• Delhi had the highest number of registered motor vehicles in the country followed by Bengaluru.

POSHAN ABHIYAAN

Focus: GS 2;Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.

Why in News?

Year End Review: Department of Youth Affairs,

More than one lakh nutrition related activities undertaken by Nehru Yuva Kendras under POSHAN Abhiyaan

About Poshan Abhiyaan

• Poshan Abhiyaan (Ministry of Women and Child Development), also known as the National Nutrition Mission (NNM), was launched in 2018 by the Government of India with the aim of tackling the malnutrition problem prevalent in India.
• The term ‘POSHAN’ in the name of the programme stands for ‘Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition’.
• POSHAN Abhiyaan is Government of India’s flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• Launched by the Prime Minister on the occasion of the International Women’s Day on 8 March, 2018 from Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan, the POSHAN (Prime Minister’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition) Abhiyaan directs the attention of the country towards the problem of malnutrition and address it in a mission-mode.
• The programme has specific targets for reducing stunting, anaemia, under-nutrition and low birth weight.
• According to ‘Mission 25 by 2020’, the National Nutrition Mission aims to achieve a reduction in stunting from 38.4% to 25% by 2022.
• The 3rd Rashtriya Poshan Maah is being celebrated during the month of September 2020.
• Every year the Poshan Maah is celebrated under POSHAN Abhiyaan.
• The theme for National Nutrition Week 2020 is ‘Eat Right, Bite by Bite’.

Implementation of  POSHAN Abhiyaan the four-point strategy/pillars of the mission

• Inter-sectoral convergence for better service delivery
• Use of technology (ICT) for real time growth monitoring and tracking of women and children
• Intensified health and nutrition services for the first 1000 days
• Jan Andolan

Benefits of Poshan Abhiyaan

• Poshan Abhiyaan, the world’s largest nutrition programme, expected to benefit 10 crore people
• It aims to reduce aims to reduce stunting, underweight, and low birth weight, each by 2% per year; and anaemia among young children, adolescents and women each by 3% per year until 2022.

Issues of Poshan Abhiyaan

• Information and communications technology-enabled real time monitoring (ICT-RTM) has been rolled out in POSHAN Abhiyaan districts.
• This could be ineffective due to the limited capacities of Anganwadi workers (Aws) to handle smartphones owing to their lack of technological literacy.
• Technical issues like slow servers and data deletion problems, resulting in irregular and improper recording of growth data of children.
• AWs are the fulcrum of POSHAN Abhiyaan and render vital services to mothers and children in villages.
• Nearly 40% of AWs had to use their personal money to run the AWCs, 35% of them complained of delayed payments.
• This makes AWs demotivated and demoralized.

About POSHAN Maah

• The month of September 2018 was celebrated as Rashtriya POSHAN Maah.
• The activities in POSHAN Maah focussed on Social Behavioral Change and Communication (SBCC).
• The broad themes were: antenatal care, optimal breastfeeding (early and exclusive), complementary feeding, anemia, growth monitoring, girls’ – education, diet, right age of marriage, hygiene and sanitation, eating healthy – food fortification.
• POSHAN Maah has given a major impetus to the Abhiyaan.