These current affairs are written in a easy to remember format and are useful for competitive exams like - UPSC Civil Services, UPPSC, BPSC, MPPPSC, State PSCs and other competitive examinations.
23rd January as Parakram Diwas
Government of India is celebrating 125th Birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose.
On 23rd January 2021 - Inaugural function was organized at Victoria Memorial Hall, Kolkata and commemorative coin and stamps on Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose were released.
Gazette notification issued on 19th Jan, 2021 declared 23rd January as Parakram Diwas every year.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Museum has been set up at Red Fort New Delhi.
Subhas Chandra Bose (23 January 1897 - 18 August 1945) was born into wealth and privilege in a large Bengali family in Orissa.
The honorific Netaji was first applied to Bose in Germany in early 1942 by the Indian soldiers.
In 1921 he joined the nationalist movement led by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
Bose rose precociously to become Congress president in 1938.
The Indian National Army (INA) had been formed in 1942 from the Indian POWs of the British Indian army captured by the Japanese in the Battle of Singapore.
Art & Culture
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY)
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) and Stand-Up India Scheme (SUPI) are the flagship Schemes implemented by Department of Financial Services (DFS) for extending loans to entrepreneurs.
Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY)
Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) is a scheme launched by the Prime Minister on April 8, 2015 for providing loans up to 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro enterprises.These loans are classified as MUDRA (a subsidiary of SIDBI) loans and are given by Commercial Banks, RRBs, Small Finance Banks, MFIs and NBFCs.
The interventions have been named 'SHISHU' (loans upto Rs. 50,000), 'KISHOR' (Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 5,00,000) and 'TARUN' (Rs. 5,00,000 to Rs. 10,00,000) to signify the stage of growth (development) and funding needs of the beneficiary micro unit or entrepreneur.
Gov. Schemes
Stand-Up India Scheme(SUPI)
Recently, the Ministry of Finance has extended the Standup India Scheme up to the year 2025.
It was launched in April 2016 to promote entrepreneurship at the grass-root level focusing on economic empowerment and job creation.
The objective of this scheme is to facilitate bank loans between Rs.10 lakh and Rs.1 crore to at least one SC or ST borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch of Scheduled Commercial Banks for setting up a Greenfield enterprise.
This enterprise may be in manufacturing, services or the trading sector.
Only SC/ST and/or women entrepreneurs above 18 years of age are eligibile and loans under the scheme are available for only Greenfield projects.
In case of non-individual enterprises, at least 51% of the shareholding and controlling stake should be held by either an SC/ST or Woman entrepreneur.
The offices of SIDBI and NABARD are designated Stand-Up Connect Centres (SUCC).
The margin money requirement for loans under the Scheme has been reduced from 'upto 25%' to 'upto 15%' and activities allied to agriculture have been included in the Scheme.
Gov. Schemes
FAME Scheme phase II
The Union government announced to extend the II phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicle (FAME) scheme by two years to March 31, 2024.
The scheme, started in 2019 for promoting sales of electric vehicles, was supposed to end by 2022.
The Fame scheme was announced with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore and the government expected to incentivize the purchase of 7,090 electric buses, 35,000 four-wheelers, 500,000 three-wheelers and 1 million two-wheelers.
In reality, though, due to the high localization norms and other rules, most of the products in the segment did not qualify for the incentives. The ones that qualified did not get enough subsidies to close the price gap with combustion engine vehicles.
Gov. Schemes
Adi-Prashikshan Portal
Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA) has launched "Adi-Prashikshan Portal" on 16th June 2021 to act as a central repository of all training programs conducted by Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
The repository also include content from training programs conducted by State Tribal Research Institutes (TRIs), National Society for Education of Tribal Students (NESTS) and other organizations funded by the Ministry.
The main objective of the portal is to create an end-to-end centralized online interactive training platform on tribal development which brings together training organizers, thematic experts/resource persons, master trainers, trainees and training material at one place.
All trainers, trainees and master trainers related to the training programs organized or funded by the Ministry are required to be registered through this portal.
Social Issues
Swadesh Darshan scheme
Swadesh Darshan Scheme was launched in 2014-15 by the Ministry of Tourism, GoI as a Central Sector scheme for the integrated development of theme-based tourist circuits.
The scheme aims to promote, develop and harness the potential of tourism in India.
15 thematic circuits have been identified under the Swadesh Darshan for development -
Buddhist circle, Coastal circle, Desert circle, Eco circle, Heritage circle, Himalayan circle, Krishna circle, North-East circle, Ramayana circle, Rural circle, Spiritual circle, Sufi circle, Tirthankar circle, Tribal circle and Wildlife circle.
The funding available for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives of Central Public Sector Undertakings and Corporate Sector is also used in this scheme.
Tourist Circuit is defined as a route on which at least three major tourist destinations which are not in the same town, village or city and not separated by a long-distance as well.
Theme-based Tourist Circuits are circuits around specific themes such as religion, culture, ethnicity, niche, etc.
Gov. Schemes
What is "PRASAD Scheme" ?
PRASAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation And Spirituality Augmentation Drive) Scheme was launched in 2014-15 by the Ministry of Tourism, GoI for integrated development of pilgrimage destinations to provide a complete religious tourism experience.
The focus of PRASAD is on the development and beautification of the identified pilgrimage destinations under HRIDAY Scheme.
The Ministry of Tourism has set up a Mission Directorate for implementing the PRASAD scheme.
The Mission Directorate identifies projects in the identified cities and coordinates with the states/UTs and other stakeholders to implement this scheme.
A Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee is set up for sanctioning of the projects submitted by the Mission Directorate.
A National Steering Committee is also constituted for the overall review, guidance and monitoring of this scheme.
The Central Government provides 100% funding for the project components undertaken for public funding.
This scheme seeks to leverage the voluntary funding available for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for improved sustainability of the projects under this scheme.
The following 12 cities are identified under the PRASAD scheme: Amritsar (Punjab), Kedarnath (Uttarakhand), Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), Ajmer (Rajasthan), Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Gaya (Bihar), Kamakhya (Assam), Dwaraka (Gujarat), Puri (Odisha), Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh), Kanchipuram(Tamil Nadu) and Velankanni (Tamil Nadu).
Gov. Schemes
India assumes UNSC presidency
India has assumed the rotating Presidency of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the month of August.
This is India's tenth tenure.
This is also India's first presidency in the UNSC during its 2021-22 tenure as a non-permanent member of the UNSC.
The presidency of the Council is held by each of the members in turn for one month, following the English alphabetical order of the Member States names.
The head of the country?s delegation is known as the President of the United Nations Security Council.
The president serves to coordinate actions of the council, decide policy disputes, and sometimes functions as a diplomat or intermediary between conflicting groups.
International Relations
National Legal Services Authority (NALSA)
National Legal Services Authority of India (NALSA) was formed on 9 November 1995 under the authority of the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987.
Its purpose is to provide free legal services to eligible candidates, and to organize Lok Adalats for speedy resolution of cases.
The Chief Justice of India is patron-in-chief of NALSA while the second senior-most Judge of the Supreme Court of India is the Executive-Chairman.
There is a provision for similar mechanism at state and district level also headed by Chief Justice of High Courts and Chief Judges of District courts respectively.
The prime objective of NALSA is speedy disposal of cases and reducing the burden of judiciary.
Social Issues
North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC)
To solve the Assam-Mizoram border dispute and to arrive at a permanent solution, the Centre has asked the North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) to map and demarcate the State boundaries using satellite imaging.
NESAC was established in 2005, it is a joint initiative of the Department of Space (DoS) and the North Eastern Council (NEC).
It is located in Shillong (Meghalaya).
It helps in augmenting the developmental process in the region by providing advanced space technology support.
Science & Tech