CONTENTS
- QUAD
- FOUNDATION DAY OF DDU-GKY
- SAUBHAGYA SCHEME
QUAD
Focus: GS II- International Relations
Why in News?
President Biden hosted Prime Minister of Australia, Prime Minister of India, and Prime Minister of Japan at the White House for the first-ever in-person Leaders’ Summit of the Quad.
Details:
The leaders have put forth ambitious initiatives that deepen our ties and advance practical cooperation on 21st-century challenges: ending the COVID-19 pandemic, including by increasing production and access to safe and effective vaccines; promoting high-standards infrastructure; combatting the climate crisis; partnering on emerging technologies, space, and cybersecurity; and cultivating next-generation talent in all of our countries.
What is the Quad grouping?
- The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD) also known as Quad, is an Inter-governmental security forum.
- It comprises of 4 countries– India, the United States, Japan and Australia.
- The member countries of the Quad organise summits, exchanges the information and military drills.
- In the year 2007, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe proposed the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. The forum was joined by the Vice President of the US Dick Cheney, Prime Minister John Howard of Australia and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. It was paralleled by joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale with the name Exercise Malabar.
- India’s past experiment: Over the years, India has experimented with alliances of different kinds:
- During World War I, some nationalists aligned with imperial Germany to set up the first Indian government-in-exile in Kabul.
- During World War II, Subhas Chandra Bose joined forces with imperial Japan to set up a provisional government in Port Blair.
- Jawaharlal Nehru, who unveiled and championed non-alignment, signed security treaties with Bhutan, Nepal, and Sikkim. Also, Nehru, who actively opposed American alliances in Asia, turned to the US for military support in 1962.
FOUNDATION DAY OF DDU-GKY
Focus: GS-II Social Justice
‘Antyodaya Diwas’
- 25th September, 2014 was declared the ‘Antyodaya Diwas’ in honour of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya’s 98th Birth Anniversary.
- It was the same day when the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) revamped its existing skill development program called Aajeevika Skills as Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) which emphasized on greater access, coverage and quality.
- In doing so, MoRD has used its knowledge gained over 15 years in implementing skill training programs. DDU-GKY is now a demand driven placement-linked skilling initiative which seeks to enable rural poor youth to benefit from national and international employment opportunities.
- The spirit of Antyodaya Mission lies in ‘reaching out to the last person’.
- Therefore, working towards this motto and to commemorate Antyodaya Diwas 2020, MoRD is celebrating this day for Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY) with their skilled and enthusiastic beneficiaries and other stakeholders spread across the country.
Deen Dayal Upadhyaya – Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY)
- DDU-GKY is a placement linked skill development program which allows skilling in a PPP mode and assured placements in regular jobs in an organization not owned by the skilled person.
- The Vision of DDU-GKY is to “Transform rural poor youth into an economically independent and globally relevant workforce”.
- It aims to target youth, in the age group of 15–35 years. DDU-GKY is a part of the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), tasked with the dual objectives of adding diversity to the incomes of rural poor families and cater to the career aspirations of rural youth.
- DDU-GKY is being undertaken as PPP Project all over the country through Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) registered with the Ministry of Rural Development.
- Further, Guidelines of the scheme mandate State Governments to take up skill training projects with Corporate Social Responsibility funding.
- DDU-GKY Guidelines provide for setting apart 15% of the funds of the funds at for national level beneficiaries from among minority groups.
- Under this programme, disbursements would be made through a digital voucher directly into the student’s bank account as part of the government’s skill development initiative.
SAUBHAGYA SCHEME
Focus: GS II- Welfare scheme
Why in News?
SAUBHAGYA completes four years of successful implementation
- 2.82 crore households have been electrified since the launch of SAUBHAGYA
- A dedicated toll-free helpline in place to identify and provide electricity connections to remaining unelectrified households
About Saubhagya Scheme
Nodal: Ministry of Power
- Saubhagya Scheme aims to achieve universal household electrification in all parts of the country.
- The scheme primarily benefits rural areas, which have vast majority of households without power connections.
- The beneficiaries for free electricity connection would be identified using Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) 2011 data.
Objectives:
- Reduced environmental degradation by ruling out the use of Kerosene for lighting purposes.
- Improved educational services.
- Improved health services.
- Improvement in communication.
- Improvement in public safety and quality of life, primarily for women.
- Increased employment opportunities.
- Increased economic activity.
