PM Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana
- It is a set to lauch pension scheme for small farmers by ‘Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare’.
- It covers only small and marginal farmers who own less than 2 hectares of land. (while PM-KISAN is for all farmers)
- It aims to improve the life of small and marginal farmers of the country.
- The farmers will have to contribute Rs 100/p.m that seeks to provide minimum fixed monthly pension of Rs. 3000/- on attainment of 60 years.
- It is a voluntary and contributory for farmers in the entry age group of 18 to 40 years..
- The Centre will also contribute an equal amount to the pension fund to be managed by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
- Farmers can also allow contribution to be made directly from the benefits drawn from the PM-KISAN scheme.
- The spouse is also eligible to get a separate pension of Rs.3000/- upon making separate contributions to the Fund.
- In case of death of the farmer before retirement date, the spouse may continue the scheme by paying the remaining contributions.
- If the spouse does not wish to continue, the total contribution made by the farmer along with interest will be paid to spouse.
- If there is no spouse, then total contribution along with interest will be paid to the nominee.
- If the farmer dies after the retirement date, the spouse will receive 50% of the pension as Family Pension.
- After the death of both the farmer and the spouse, the accumulated corpus shall be credited back to the Pension Fund.
- The beneficiaries may opt voluntarily to exit the Scheme after a minimum period of 5 years of regular contributions.
- On exit, their entire contribution shall be returned by LIC with an interest equivalent to prevailing saving bank rates.
- The initial enrollment to the Scheme is being done through the Common Service Centres in various states.
Quit India Movement anniversary
- On 8 August, 1942 at the Bombay session of All India Congress led by Mahatma Gandhi passed a resolution of Quit India Movement.
- It is also known as ‘August Kranti’ as ‘Gowalia Tank Maidan’ is also known as the August Kranti Maidan.
- The movement gave the slogans ‘Quit India’ or ‘Bharat Chodo’ and Gandhi gave the famous slogan to the people – ‘Do or die’ (Karo ya Maro).
- This resolution declared that the immediate ending of the British rule in India.
- The INC was banned. Its leaders were jailed for almost the whole of the war.
- Aruna Asaf Ali took over the AICC session and despite several police warnings a large crowd gathered at Mumbai's Gowalia Tank Maidan.
- At that time, Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Indian Tricolour proudly.
- It was the first time that the Indian Tricolour was hoisted in public.
- In the absence of leadership, there were stray incidences of violence and damage to government property.
- Many buildings were set on fire, electricity lines were cut and communication and transport lines were broken.
- There was opposition from the Muslim League, the Communist Part of India and the Hindu Mahasabha to the movement.
- In some places, parallel governments were also set up. Example: Ballia, Tamluk, Satara.
- The movement had been suppressed due to ruthless use of force.
Rotavirus Vaccine
- ‘Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’ plans to expand Rotavirus vaccine coverage to all states.
- Rotavirus is a viral infection that causes severe diarrhea in children, particularly in youngsters less than 2 years old.
- In India, every year 37 out of every 1000 children born are unable to celebrate their 5th birthday and one of the major reasons for this is diarrheal deaths.
- It is very contagious and the virus is found in the stool of a person during and after the time, the person has diarrhea.
- Not washing a child's hands can lead to the virus contaminating other objects, such as toys.
- Other children can then become infected, if they also touch these contaminated objects.
- The virus easily spreads and causes inflammation in the stomach and intestines.
- Two brands of vaccine are available to protect against rotavirus.
- Antibiotics will not help because they fight bacteria not viruses.
- Since rotavirus disease can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea, it can lead to dehydration.
- The best way to protect against dehydration is to drink plenty of liquids.
- Rotavirus vaccine along with proper sanitation, hand wash practices and zinc supplementation will helps in reducing the mortality and morbidity due to diarrhoea in children.
- National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), recommended introduction of rotavirus vaccine (RVV) in the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP).
- Government is committed to ending morbidity and mortality in children due to diarrhoea by 2022.
National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI)
- NTAGI is the highest advisory body on immunization in the country.
- It consists of independent experts who provide recommendations on vaccines after reviewing data on disease burden, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of vaccines.
- The Immunization Technical Support Unit (ITSU) was established to support MoHFW for evidence based planning.
- One of the functions of ITSU was to host the NTAGI Secretariat to facilitate the secretarial work of NTAGI.
Source: PIB, The Indian Express
