CONTENTS
- NATIONAL SERVICE SCHEME (NSS) AWARDS
- SCHEME FOR PROMOTION OF MEDICAL DEVICE PARKS
NATIONAL SERVICE SCHEME (NSS) AWARDS
Focus: GS-II Governance
Why in news?
The President of India virtually conferred the National Service Scheme (NSS) Awards for the year 2019-20 recently.
National Service Scheme (NSS)
- The National Service Scheme (NSS) is a Central Sector Scheme of Government of India, Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.
- It provides opportunity to the student youth of 11th & 12th Class of schools at +2 Board level and student youth of Technical Institution, Graduate & Post Graduate at colleges and University level of India to take part in various government led community service activities & programmes.
- The sole aim of the NSS is to provide hands on experience to young students in delivering community service.
- Since inception of the NSS in the year 1969, the number of students strength increased from 40,000 to over 3.8 million up to the end of March 2018 students in various universities, colleges and Institutions of higher learning have volunteered to take part in various community service programmes.
Motto:
The motto of National Service Scheme is NOT ME BUT YOU
Benefits of Being a NSS Volunteer:
A NSS volunteer who takes part in the community service programme would either be a college level or a senior secondary level student. Being an active member these student volunteers would have the exposure and experience to be the following:
- an accomplished social leader
- an efficient administrator
- a person who understands human nature
Types of Activities
- There are two types of activities: Regular Activities (120 hours) and Annual Special Camp (120 hours).
- All the NSS Volunteers who have served NSS for at least 2 years and have performed 240 hours of work under NSS are entitled to a certificate from the university under the signature of the Vice-Chancellor and the Programme Coordinator.
- Camps are held annually, funded by the government of India, and are usually located in a rural village or a city suburb.
Volunteers may be involved in such activities as:
- Cleaning
- Afforestation
- Stage shows or a procession creating awareness of such issues as social problems, education and cleanliness
- Awareness Rallies
- Inviting doctors for health camps
NSS Awards
- Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Department of Youth Affairs confers every year the National Service Scheme Award to recognize and reward outstanding contributions towards voluntary community service made by the Universities/Colleges, (+2) Councils, Senior Secondary, NSS Units/ Programme Officers and NSS Volunteers, with a view to further promote NSS in the country.
- To recognize the voluntary service rendered by NSS volunteers, Programme Officers (PO’s), NSS Units and the University NSS Cells, it has been proposed to provide suitable incentives/ awards under the scheme.
Awards include:
- NSS National Award
- State level awards
- University level awards
- District level awards
- College level awards
SCHEME FOR PROMOTION OF MEDICAL DEVICE PARKS
Focus: GS II- Health
Why in News?
The Department of Pharmaceuticals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has notified the Scheme for “Promotion of Medical Device Parks”.
About Scheme for Promotion of Medical Device Parks
- Under the scheme, medical parks will be developed to provide common infrastructure facilities in one place thereby creating a robust ecosystem for medical device manufacturing in the country and also reduce the manufacturing cost significantly.
- Duration: The total financial outlay of the scheme is Rs. 400 crores and the tenure of the scheme is from FY 2020-2021 to FY 2024-2025.
- Financial Assistance: The financial assistance to a selected Medical Device Park would be 70% of the project cost of common infrastructure facilities.
- In the case of the North-Eastern States and the Hilly States, financial assistance would be 90% of the project cost. Maximum assistance under the scheme for one Medical Device Park would be limited to Rs. 100 crores.
Objectives of the Scheme
- Easy access to standard testing and infrastructure facilities through the creation of world-class common infrastructure facilities for increased competitiveness.
- This will result in a significant reduction of the cost of production of medical devices, leading to better availability and affordability of medical devices in the domestic market.
- Reaping the benefits arising due to optimization of resources and economies of scale.
