Facts in News

Facts in News

‘Karez’ system of irrigation

• Karez is constructed as a series of well-like vertical shafts
• It is connected by sloping tunnels, which tap into subterranean water in a manner that efficiently delivers large quantities of water to the surface by gravity, without the need for pumping.
• It is built from an upland aquifer to ground level.
• Its water to be transported over long distances in hot dry climates without loss of much of the water to evaporation.
• Distribution: 
  • Some historians and archaeologists have attributed people in the southeast Arabian Peninsula as the first developers. 
  • Others, however, ascribe it to the ancient Persians. 
    • Thousands of miles away from West Asia, the ancient peoples of Peru’s Pacific coastal desert also independently developed a similar system called ‘puquios’.
  • It covers eight per cent of irrigated land in Afghanistan.
    • They are the only source of water in the majority of rural communities in the southern and southwestern regions of Afghanistan

• It came to the Indian Subcontinent during the 800-year-old Islamic Period.
  • The system was brought in the Indian Subcontinent during the Bahamani Sultanate, founded by Alaudin Bahman Shah. 

• Advantage 
  • It is being resistant to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods, and to deliberate destruction in war. 
  • It is almost insensitive to the levels of precipitation, delivering a flow with only gradual variations from wet to dry years. 
  • It is environmentally sustainable as it has no additional energy requirement and, thus, has low life cycle operation and maintenance costs.

Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY)

• Under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) approximately 20.32 lakh COVID-19 tests and 7.08 lakh treatments were authorised from April 2020 to July 2021.

Key Points 

• AB PM-JAY is a flagship scheme of the Government of India.
• It was launched in September 2018 as recommended by the National Health Policy 2017, to achieve the vision of Universal Health Coverage (UHC).
• It is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme having a central sector component under Ayushman Bharat Mission
• It is the world’s largest health insurance/ assurance scheme fully financed by the government providing a cover of Rs. 5 lakhs per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
• The cover under the scheme includes all expenses incurred on the following components of the treatment.
  • Medical examination, treatment and consultation
  • Pre-hospitalization
  • Medicine and medical consumables
  • Non-intensive and intensive care services
  • Diagnostic and laboratory investigations
  • Medical implantation services (where necessary)
  • Accommodation benefits.
  • Food services
  • Complications arising during treatment
  • Post-hospitalization follow-up care up to 15 days

• Aims and Objectives:
  • To accelerate health system preparedness for immediate responsiveness for early prevention, detection and management, with a focus on health infrastructure development including for Paediatric Care and with measurable outcomes.

• Benefits: 
  • It provides cashless access to health care services for the beneficiary at the point of service.
  • It envisions to help mitigate catastrophic expenditure on medical treatment which pushes nearly 6 crore Indians into poverty each year.
  • There is no restriction on the family size, age or gender.

RoSCTL Scheme

• The Ministry of Textiles has notified the continuation of the Rebate of State and Central Taxes and Levies (RoSCTL) scheme for the export of garments and made-ups and issued guidelines for its implementation.

About the Scheme

• The scheme will continue till March 2024.
• Notified by: Ministry of Textiles in 2019 
• Revised guidelines prepared by the Ministry of Textiles in consultation with the Department of Revenue.
• Duty Credit Scrip Issued to exporters for the value of embedded taxes and levies contained in the exported product. 
  • Exporters can use this scrip to pay basic customs duty for the import of equipment, machinery or any other input.
  • These scrips are tradeable.
• Benefits:
  • It will enhance the competitiveness of the labour-intensive textiles sector.
  • Garment exporters will continue to get a rebate on Central and State taxes on their outward shipments.
  • It will help boost exports and job creation.
  • The sectors covered will not get benefits under the Remission of Duties and Taxes on Exported Products (RoDTEP) scheme.

Greater Adjutant Storks

• In a first, Bihar has decided to tag greater adjutant storks (Leptoptilos dubius) with GPS trackers to monitor their movement as a part of efforts to conserve them.
  • Kadwa Diara floodplains area of Bihar is the third-most-popular breeding centre for the greater adjutant stork in the world after Assam and Cambodia.
• Once found across South and Southeast Asia, the Greater Adjutant is one of the most threatened stork species in the world
• Locally known as Garuda in Bihar, Adjutant Stork helps farmers by killing rats and other farm pests.
• IUCN Status: Endangered
• Listed under Schedule IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.
•  Only three known breeding grounds are there.
  • One in Cambodia 
  • Two in India 
    • Assam 
    • Kadwa Diara, Bihar. 
• The English name of the stork, which has a large wedge-shaped bill and a prominent neck pouch, is derived from its stiff soldier-like gait.
• The estimated Global Population of Greater Adjutant Storks (around 800- 1,200) has fallen over the years largely due to the ingestion of plastic.

Image Courtesy: Ebird

National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC)

• The  National Mineral Development Corporation ( NMDC) has produced 8.91 million tonnes of iron best-ever Q1 produce since its inception.

National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC

About:

• It was incorporated in 1958 as a Government of India fully owned public enterprise, NMDC is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel, Government of India.
• Categorized by the Department of Public Enterprises as “Navratna” Public Sector Enterprise in 2008.

Function:  

• Involved in the exploration of a wide range of minerals including iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite, beach sands etc. 
• It is India’s single largest iron ore producer, presently producing about 35 million tonnes of iron ore.

SonChiraiya

• Recently, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched ‘SonChiraiya’ (A brand and logo) for marketing urban Self-Help Group (SHG) products. 

About

• Many of these SHGs are engaged in livelihood activities, producing goods such as handicrafts, textiles, toys, eatables and so on.
• Earlier, these were being sold primarily in local neighbourhood markets and often faced barriers in achieving visibility and wide market access but after this launch, they can have on e-Commerce Portals viz. Amazon and Flipkart.
• Innovative methods of online training for SHGs have been ensured to enable them to smoothly operate on e-portals.

Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM)

• DAY-NULM under the aegis of MoHUA would aim at universal coverage of the urban poor, including the urban homeless for skill development and credit facilities.
  • Socio-economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011 is done to identify the poor.
• The mission has also focussed on equipping the urban poor women with adequate skills and opportunities and enabling them to promote sustainable micro-enterprises. 
  • It mobilises women from urban poor households into SHGs and their federations to create a support system for these women.