PIB – 02 September 2021

Y- BREAK MOBILE APP

Focus: GS II- Health

Why in News?

Union Minister of Ayush launched the ‘Y-Break’ mobile application.

About Y-Break Mobile Application:

• The ‘Y-Break Mobile Application’ is a five-minute yoga protocol launched by the Ministry of AYUSH.
• It is developed by Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga.
• This yoga protocol includes Asanas, Pranayama and Meditation. It includes
  • Tadasana- Urdhva-hastottanasana- Tadasana
  • Skandha chakra- Uttanamandukasana– Kati Chakrasana
  • Ardhachakrasana, PrasaritaPadottanasana- Deep Breathing
  • Nadishodhana Pranayama
  • Bhramari Pranayama- Dhyana
• It is helpful for all workaholics including government and private employees to relieve stress, refresh and re-focus with enhanced immunity at their workplaces.
• Apart from this mobile app, yearlong campaigns of cultivation of medicinal plants in farmland and distribution of medicinal plants to households, sensitisation of School and College going students on AYUSH systems have also been started. These campaigns have been announced under the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

UDAN

Focus: GS III- Infrastructure

Why in News?

Minister of Civil Aviation has written to Chief Ministers of Manipur and Haryana, Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Jammu & Kashmir and Administrator of Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, for their personal intervention in expediting aviation infrastructure under Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) – UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik). 

About Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN):

Nodal:  Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA)

• It is an innovative scheme to develop the regional aviation market.
• The objective of scheme is 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.
• The scheme envisages providing connectivity to un-served and underserved airports of the country through the revival of existing air-strips and airports. The scheme is operational for a period of 10 years.

UDAN 1.0

Under this phase, 5 airlines companies were awarded 128 flight routes to 70 airports (including 36 newly made operational airports)

UDAN 2.0

In 2018, the Ministry of Civil Aviation announced 73 underserved and unserved airports. For the first time, helipads were also connected under phase 2 of UDAN scheme.

UDAN 3.0

Key Features of UDAN 3 included:

• Inclusion of Tourism Routes under UDAN 3 in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism.
• Inclusion of Seaplanes for connecting Water Aerodromes.
• Bringing in a number of routes in the North-East Region under the ambit of UDAN.

UDAN 4.0:

• The 4th round of UDAN was launched in December 2019 with a special focus on North-Eastern Regions, Hilly States, and Islands.
  • The airports that had already been developed by Airports Authority of India (AAI) are given higher priority for the award of VGF (Viability Gap Funding) under the Scheme.
  • Under UDAN 4, the operation of helicopter and seaplanes is also been incorporated.

KAZIND-21

Focus: GS III- Defence

Why in News?

The India – Kazakhstan joint military exercise “KAZIND-21” commenced at Training Node Aisha Bibi, Kazakhstan.

Details:

• This is the 5th Edition of Annual bilateral joint exercise of both Armies and will continue till 10th September 2021.
• The fourth edition of the exercise was held at Pithoragarh, India in Sep 2019.
• The contingent comprises 120 troops from Kazakhstan and 90 soldiers from the Indian Army.
• Both the contingents will share their expertise and skills in the field of counter terror operations.
• This exercise will provide impetus to the ever growing military and diplomatic ties between the two nations.
• The joint exercise also reflects the strong resolve of both nations to counter terrorism and will to stand shoulder to shoulder to combat the same.

EXERCISE ZAPAD 2021

Focus: GS II- International Relations

Why in News?

A 200 personnel contingent of Indian Army will participate in Exercise ZAPAD 2021, a Multi Nation exercise being held at Nizhniy, Russia from 03 to 16 September 2021.

About Exercise ZAPAD 2021:

• ZAPAD 2021 is one of the theatre level exercises of Russian Armed Forces and will focus primarily on operations against terrorists.
• Over a dozen countries from Eurasian and South Asian Region will participate in this signature event.
• The NAGA Battalion group participating in the exercise will feature an all Arms combined task force. 
• The exercise aims to enhance military and strategic ties amongst the participating nations while they plan & execute this exercise.
• The Indian Contingent has been put through a strenuous training schedule which encompasses all facets of conventional operations including mechanised, airborne & heliborne, counter terrorism, combat conditioning and firing.

ATAL PENSION YOJANA (APY)

Focus: GS-II Social Justice 

Why in news?

Under the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), a guaranteed pension scheme of Government of India and administered by PFRDA, more than 28 lakh new APY accounts have been opened during current FY 2021-22.

• Overall, enrolments under APY has crossed 3.30 crore as on 25th August 2021.

About Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

• APY was launched on 9th May 2015 with an objective of delivering old age income security, particularly to the workers in the unorganised sector.
• APY envisages Government providing guarantee of minimum pension after 60 years of age.
• The scheme even after garnering 2.23 crores workers under the ambit of pension, still remains unequivocally relevant for addressing the challenges of rapidly increasing aging population of India.
• The scheme has been implemented comprehensively across the country covering all states and Union Territories with male to female subscription ratio of 57:43.
• APY can be subscribed by Any Indian citizen in the age group of 18-40 years having a bank account and its uniqueness is attributable to three distinctive benefits.
• It provides a minimum guaranteed pension ranging from Rs 1000 to Rs 5000 on attaining 60 years of age.
• The amount of pension is guaranteed for lifetime to spouse on death of the subscriber and lastly, in the event of death of both the subscriber and the spouse, entire pension corpus is paid to the nominee.

Future of APY

Going forward there is still the humongous task of increasing the pension coverage, as only five per cent of the eligible population has been covered under APY till date.