GUJARAT
At Rs 18,996 crore, Gujarat third in loans to MSMEs
Loan amount worth Rs 18,996 crore was extended to MSMEs in Gujarat under the
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) till January 21, 2021, according to data
tabled in the lower house of the Parliament. This makes Gujarat the third-highest borrower
under the scheme, lagging behind Maharashtra (Rs 30,324 crore) and Tamil Nadu (Rs 20,903
crore).
However, even as the value of borrowing is higher, merely 2.84 lakh borrowers have availed
sanction under this scheme, according to the data by Union ministry of finance. This means,
fewer MSMEs have availed loans under ECLGS, rolled out as part of Aatmanirbhar Bharat
Abhiyan.
Experts said Gujarat being a manufacturing-heavy state and being home to several MSMEs,
which reeled from liquidity crisis, the borrowings in the state were high. Primary borrowers
include those from textiles, engineering goods and even chemical sector.
INTERNATIONAL
Square Kilometre Array Observatory formed to set up World’s Largest Radio Telescope
The newly constituted Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) Council held its maiden
meeting and approved the establishment of the world’s largest radio telescope.
SKAO is a new intergovernmental organisation dedicated to radio astronomy.
The headquartered of SKAO is based in the United Kingdom
Currently organisations from ten countries are a part of the SKAO, which include Australia,
Canada, China, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.
The Indian contingent of over 20 institutions will be lead by Pune-based National Centre for
Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) of TIFR.
The SKAO telescope will be an array of antennas located in two continents, i.e. Africa and
Australia.
Democracy Index 2020 Released by EIU
The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) recently released a report entitled "Democracy in
Disease and Health?" And, released the 2020 Democracy Index.
The 2020 Democracy Index report was covering 167 countries/regions. It classifies the
economy into flawed democracies, fully democratic states, mixed regimes, and
authoritarian regimes.
The report emphasizes that out of 167 countries, 23 countries are full democracies, 52 are
defective democracies, 35 countries are mixed regimes, and 57 countries are authoritarian
regimes.
In the Democracy Index, Norway ranks first. The other places that include 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and
5th places in the index were won by Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand, and Canada.
India's ranking dropped two places from the previous year. This year India ranks 53rd. Sri
Lanka ranks 68th. It is also classified as a defective democracy. Pakistan ranks 105th. It is
classified as a "hybrid regime."
India & Bahrain join hands for Renewable Energy
The 1st meeting of the Joint Working Group in the field of Renewable Energy between India
and Bahrain was held in virtual format.
In the meeting, both sides presented the initiatives taken, progress made and future targets
set by their respective governments as well as opportunities available in this sector.
Both sides also agreed to forge deeper engagement in capacity building and focused
cooperation between concerned agencies as well as the private sector of the two countries
in this sector, particularly in the field of solar, wind and clean hydrogen.
NATIONAL
Union Minister Mentions About CWF in Parliament
In the ongoing meeting, the Union Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution has informed Congress about the Consumer Welfare Fund (CWF).
The Consumer Welfare Fund was established under the Central Goods and Services Tax
(CGST) Act of 2017. The 1992 Consumer Welfare Fund rules have been incorporated into the
2017 CGST rules.
The fund was established by the Ministry of Finance (Ministry of Finance) and operated by
the Ministry of Consumer Affairs (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public
Distribution).
The goal of CWF is to promote and protect consumer welfare.
Prime Ministers Five S Vision To Tackle Global Challenges
Raksha Mantri emphasized the Prime Minister’s "Five S" vision to tackle global challenges in
his keynote speech at the IOR Defense Ministers Meeting.
PM Modi's "Five S Vision" representative to tackle global challenges:
♦ Samman (respect)
♦ Samvaad (dialogue)
♦ Sahyog (cooperation)
♦ Shanti (peace)
♦ Samriddhi (prosperity)
KAPILA Campaign for Patent Awareness
The Government initiated a campaign, namely the " Kalam Program for Intellectual Property
Literacy and Awareness Campaign (KAPILA) for Intellectual Property Literacy aimed at
raising patent awareness.
KAPILA was launched in October 2020.
Scheme objectives:
Build awareness of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) among Higher Education Institutions
(HEIs)
Provide intellectual property protection for inventions originating from faculty and students
from HEIs.
Develop intellectual property right Credit Courses
Provide intellectual property training programs for faculty and students in HEIs.
Sensitization and development of IP archiving system
Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram (RYSK) by Youth Affairs Ministry
The Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme of the
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
The Rashtriya Yuva Sashaktikaran Karyakram Scheme is a Central Sector Scheme of the
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and has been continuing since the "Twelfth Five-Year
Plan".
The scheme aims to cultivate the personalities and leadership skills of young people and
enable them to participate in nation-building activities.
The beneficiaries of this scheme are young people in the 15-29 age group. In the case of the
programme specifically targets young people, the age group is 10-19 years old.
This is an overall scheme that includes the following sub-schemes:
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (founded in 1972, one of the largest youth organizations in
the world)
National Youth Corps
National Programme for Youth and Adolescent Development
International Cooperation
Youth Hostels
Assistance to Scouting and Guiding Organisations
National Youth Leadership Program
- GPSC Mains 2024 Tests and Notes Program
- GPSC Prelims Exam 2024- Test Series and Notes Program
- GPSC Prelims and Mains 2024 Tests Series and Notes Program
- GPSC Detailed Complete Prelims Notes