13-14-11-22 Daily-Gujarat-GPSC Current Affairs

Chief election commissionerRajiv Kumarwill on Wednesday launch the special summary revision (SSR) of India’s electoral rolls with reference to January 1, 2023, from Pune, a city that has recorded one of the lowest voter turnouts in the country. Pune has consciously been chosen as theSSRlaunch venue to highlight ECs renewed push to reducing urban voter apathy and youth apathy, for which it will also be entering into memoranda of understanding (MoUs) with universities like the Pune University and Symbiosis International as well as corporates like Tech Mahindra.

Noticing high urban apathy in Pune which recorded just 49.9% voter turnout in 2019Lok Sabhapoll the Commission has decided to create targeted awareness among voters, emphasise inclusivity in enrolment by engaging with marginalised sections of the Society as also interacting with voter awareness fora.

This year the special summary revision of rolls with January 1, 2023 as the qualifying date will formally start with publication of the draft electoral roll on November 9.

There is some good news. Blindness and visual impairment (VI) in India reduced by 47.1% and 51.9%, respectively, in 2019, in overall Population as compared to WHOs figures of 2010.

However, India is yet to achieve WHO’s goal of reducing blindness to 0.3% of the total population, as the present figures stand at 0.36%.

According to a recent study for estimating the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in the Indian population, more than one fourth of people aged 50 years and above are visually impaired in India and the prevalence of blindness among them is 1.99%.

Among the 31 surveyed districts, the highest prevalence was seen in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh (3.7%), whereas the lowest was in Thrissur, Kerala (1.1%).

The major causes of blindness included cataract (66.2%), followed by corneal opacity (8.2%), cataract surgical complications (7.2%), posterior segment disorders (5.9%), and glaucoma (5.5%).

In the population aged 50 years and above, the prevalence of blindness has declined from 5.3% in 2001 to 3.6% in 2007, and to 1.9% in the current survey.
The study revealed that a higher prevalence was noted in females than in males and participants residing in rural regions had higher prevalence of blindness than those living in urban regions.

MoPSW (Ministry of ,Shipping and Waterways) is working diligently to develop the Maritime Sector as a goal of MIV 2030. In this regard 8th Norway-India Joint Working Group Maritime meeting was held on17th November,2022 in Mumbai. The meeting was Co-Chaired by Mr. Rajesh Kumar Sinha, Additional Secretary, MoPSW in presence of Mr. Amitabh Kumar, Director General of Shipping, Directorate General of Shipping, Mr. Kumar Sanjay Bariar, Addl. Director General of Shipping, Directorate General of Shipping Mr. Ajith Sukumaran, Chief Surveyor (I/c), Directorate General of Shipping Mr. Madhu Nair, Chairman and MD, Cochin Shipyard Limited along with other MoPSW senior officials. The Norwegian delegation was led by Director General Mr. Ottar Ostnes from the Ministry of Trade, Industries and Fisheries.

India Norway is part of Green Voyage 2050 project, both parties agreed on willingness, devotion, PARTNERSHIP and capacity building for achieving common goals.

India is a signatory to Hongkong Convention for Recycling of Ships. In todays meeting India requested that EU regulation should not hinder to recycling non-European countries which is compliant as per International Convention. Norway was requested not to prolong Ship recycling to India as lot of Investment has been made by Indian recyclers.