Harsh Vardhan released LASI Wave-1 Report 2020

• Union Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoH&FW) virtually released the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI) Wave-1 Report 2020 based on full-scale national. It is India's first and the world's largest survey providing base for designing national and state level programmes and policies for ageing population in India.

• This report is also a step towards Ayushman Bharat Yojana which focuses on expansion of the healthcare facilities.

• The information obtained from LASI has covered four domains viz. Health, Health care and Health care financing, Economic, and Social

• It should be noted that LASI is a Government of India's (Gol) initiative towards Better Health Care for Elderly People. It was undertaken by the National Programme for Health Care of Elderly (NPHCE) under MoH&FW through International Institute for Population Sciences, (IPS), Mumbai (Maharashtra) in collaboration with Harvard School of Public Health, University of Southern California, USA, Dte. GHS, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and National Institute on Ageing.

• It covered a baseline sample of 72,250 individuals aged 45 and above and their spouses including 31,464 elderly persons aged 60 and above and 6,749 oldest-old persons aged 75 and above from all States and Union Territories (UTS) of India

• The state of Sikkim has not been covered under this survey.

• About 45 million have cardiovascular disease and hypertension and about 20 million suffer from diabetes, and 24% of the elderly have difficulty in performing daily functions such as walking, eating, toilet etc.

Vision, Nutrition & Depression:

• Andhra Pradesh topped the Measured prevalence (%) of low vision (near and/or distance) among elderly age 60 and above with 66.4%.

• Uttar Pradesh (UP) topped the Prevalence (%) of blindness among elderly age 60 and above.

• Chhattisgarh topped in the prevalence of undernutrition (underweight) among older adults aged 45 and above.

• Chandigarh has maximum prevalence of overnutrition (overweight/obesity) among older adults aged 45 and above.

• Jammu & Kashmir has the highest percentage (54.3%) of elderly age 60 and above with depressive symptoms.

• Madhya Pradesh has maximum prevalence of major episodic depression with 17%

PM Inaugurates Rewari-Madar Freight Corridor Section of WDFC

• Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi virtually inaugurated the 306-km long New Rewari in Haryana New Madar in Rajasthan section of Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) & flagged off the World's 1st Double Stack Long Haul 1.5 Km Container Train hauled by electric traction from Atela in Haryana - Kishangarh in Rajasthan.

• The section is situated in Haryana & Rajasthan and consists of 9 newly built Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC) stations.

• It has been designed by the Research Design & Standards Organisation (RDSO) wagon department for the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL).

• World Bank is funding majority of EDFC & Japan International Cooperation Agency is funding WDFC.

About Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL):

• Managing Director - Ravindra Kumar Jain Headquarters - New Delhi

World's Largest Floating Solar Energy Project at MP set to begin Power Generation by 2022-23

• The World's Largest Floating 600 Megawatt (MW) Solar Energy Project which is under construction at Omkareshwar dam on Narmada river in Khandwa district of Madhya Pradesh is set to begin power generation by the year 2022-23.

• The production of electricity will be in about 2000- hectare water areas and the Floating panels will be installed in the backwaters of Omkareshwar dam.

• Estimated Investment of the project stands at INR 3,000 Crore.

• International Finance Corporation, World Bank & Power Grid have granted consent to provide funds for the development of the project.

Government Formed committee to protect language, culture & land of Ladakh

• Central Government decided to form a committee to protect the language, culture and land of the Union Territory (UT) of Ladakh.

• The committee will be headed by the Minister of State (Mos) G Kishan Reddy and will include elected representatives from Ladakh, members of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) and ex-officio members representing the Government of India and the Ladakh administration.

• The committee will also ensure citizen's participation in the development of Ladakh.

About Ladakh:

• Lieutenant Governor- Radha Krishna Mathur

• Capital - Leh , Kargil

RBI Manager R Giridharan Authored his Debut Book "Right Under Your Nose"

• The book titled 'Right Under Your Nose' is authored by Reserve Bank of India(RBI) Manager R Giridharan. This is his debut Book. The book is published by Rupa Publications India Pvt Ltd.

• Besides working with RBI, he is also an international sports commentator with All India Radio and has covered many test matches and one-day internationals, including World Cup matches

• He is also an expert panellist on Doordarshan.

"India's 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia' Penned by R Kaushik

• Ravi Shastri, Former Indian all-rounder and current head coach of Indian Cricket team released a book titled, 'India's 71-Year Test: The Journey to Triumph in Australia' at the Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia. The book is a Bradman Museum initiative and is authored by R Kaushik, Senior Cricket Journalist. It is published by Churchill Press.

• It describes the 1st 12 tours of India to Australia, i.e, from 1947/48, revealing the development of the rivalry between the two nations which was majorly dominated by the hosts.

• It features over 200 pictures, many of these were purchased by former Australia Test opener Wally Edwards. He donated them to the Bradman Museum collection.

MP & AP become 1st group of states to complete 3 reforms stipulated by Ministry of Finance

• Madhya Pradesh (MP) & Andhra Pradesh (AP) became the 1st Group of States to complete three out of the Four citizen schemes stipulated by Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. These two states have completed the implementation of schemes - One Nation One Ration Card Reforms, Ease of Doing Business Reforms, & Urban Local Bodies Reforms.

• As they have completed the reforms, the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance will provide them an additional Financial Assistance of INR 1004 Crore under the newly launched "Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure scheme

• The 4 reforms are One Nation One Ration Card, Ease of doing Business Reform, Urban Local Body/Utility Reform & Power Sector Reform

• AP will get additional financial assistance of INR 344 Crore & MP will get INR 660 crore to implement capital projects.

• The Additional Financial Assistance for Capital Expenditure is in addition to the permission of INR 14694 crores issued to AP & MP for extra borrowings for completing the reforms.

• The amount can be used for implementation of projects in areas of Health, Rural Development, Water Supply, Irrigation, and Power, Transport, Education, Urban Development.

• The scheme was announced by the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in October, 2020 as part of Aatma Nirbhar Bharat Package.

Scheme has 3 parts:

• It covers North-Eastern & Hill States. An amount of INR 200 Crores has been allocated to each of 7 North Eastern states (Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim & Tripura) & INR 450 Crore to 2 Hilly States (Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand).

• Assam with a high population and geographical areas has been allocated INR 450 crore.

• For states which have not been included in Part-1 of the Scheme and an amount of INR 7,500 crore has been earmarked for this part.

• The amount has been allocated among the states based on their share of central tax as per the interim award of 15th Finance Commission for the year 2020-21.

• Under this part an amount of INR 2000 Crores has been set aside for implementing citizen-centric reforms in the states.

• It will be available only to states who have completed 3 out of 4 reforms specified by the Ministry of Finance before December 31, 2020.

Indian Govt's SLNP and UJALA Programmes Marks their 6th Anniversary

• On January 5, 2021 UnnatJyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) and Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP) of Government of India marks their 6th anniversary.

• Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) implements these programmes since their inception on January 5, 2015.

• Both the programmes were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

About UnnatJyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA):

• The scheme was initially labelled as Domestic Efficient Lighting Programme (DELP).

• It replaced the 'Bachat Lamp Yojana'.

• Under this programme, LED bulbs, LED Tube lights and Energy efficient fans are distributed to the domestic consumers to replace the conventional and inefficient variant.

• It is to be noted that it is World's largest zero-subsidy domestic LED bulb programme

• UJALA appliances can be purchased at Rs 70 per LED bulb, Rs 220 per LED tube light and Rs 1110 per Fan.

About Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP):

• This replaces conventional street lights with LED lights.

• Under this programme, EESL replaces the conventional street lights with smart and energy efficient

• LED street lights at its own costs (without any need for municipalities to invest) across India.

• It is to be noted that it is world's largest streetlight replacement programme

About Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL):

• EESL is a Joint Venture of four Public Sector Undertakings(PSUs) namely, NTPC Limited, Power Finance Corporation Limited, REC Limited and POWERGRID Corporation of India Limited.
• Founded- 2009

• Headquarters, New Delhi, India
• Chairman- Rajeev Sharma
• Managing Director- Rajat Kumar Sud

Government of India, West Bengal & World Bank sign USD 105 Million Project to improve Waterways in West Bengal

• Government of India (Gol), Government of West Bengal (WB)& World Bank signed USD 105 Million Project (approximately INR 767 Crores) for the West Bengal Inland Water Transport, Logistics and Spatial Development Project. The Loan for the project is provided by International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD).

• The Loan will have a maturity of 17 years including a grace period of 7 years.

RBI to Introduce LEI for Large-Value Transactions in RTGS/NEFT from April, 2021

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced the introduction of Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) for all payment transactions of Rs 50 crore and above undertaken by entities through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT).

• The directions for the same have been issued by RBI under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems
• Cleari Act, 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).

• The LEI system will be effective from April 1, 2021 for participants in the over the counter (OTC) derivative and non-derivative markets.

Legal Entity Identifier (LEI)

• It is a unique 20-digit global reference number to identify legal entities participating in financial transactions. It makes the identification of an entity easy in the global database.

• It will act as a key measure to improve the quality and accuracy of financial data systems for better risk management.

• It can be obtained from any of the Local Operating Units (LOUS) accredited by the global umbrella organisation Global Legal Entity Identifier Foundation (GLEIF) based in Basel, Switzerland.

• In India, LEI can be obtained from Mumbai (Maharashtra) based Legal Entity Identifier India Ltd. (LEIL) https://www.ccilindialei.co.in. It is a RBI recognized issuer of LEI and GLEIF accredited LOU under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007.

• LEIL is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Clearing Corporation of India Ltd (CCIL).

RBI announces Operationalization of Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced Operationalization of the Payments Infrastructure Development Fund (PIDF) Scheme with an initial corpus of INR 345 Crores for three years starting from January 1, 2021 & may be extended for two more years depending upon the progress. An Advisory Council (AC) under the chairmanship of RBI Deputy Governor BP Kanungo will be responsible for managing the functioning of PIDF.

• To increase the number of Payment Acceptance Devices in the country.

• To increase payments acceptance infrastructure by adding 30 Lakh touch points - 10 Lakh Physical & 20 Lakh Digital Payment acceptance devices each year.

• For the initial corpus of INR 345 Crores, INR 250 crores will be contributed by RBI & rest INR 95 Crores by authorized card networks operating in India.

• The card issuing banks shall also contribute to the corpus based on the card issuance volume (covering both debit cards and credit cards) at the rate of 1 and 3 per debit and credit card issued by them

1st-of-its-kind Indian Railways' Freight Business Development Portal

• Union Minister Piyush Goyal, Ministry of Railways, launched the first-of-its-kind Indian Railways dedicated Freight portal "Freight Business Development Portal" on the lines of ease of doing business. This portal enables the customers to know the status of their freight requirement.

• This online portal will replace physical processes by minimizing human to human interaction and also bring more transparency and provide professional support.

• It will also ensure customer centric operations, reduce the costs for logistics providers, and also simplify the process of goods transportation.

2020 is 8th Warmest Year in India Since 1901: IMD

• The Statement on Climate of India during 2020' issued by Climate Research and Services (CRS) of India Meteorological Department (IMD), Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India mentioned that 2020 was the 8th warmest year in India since nation-wide records commenced in 1901.

• But, this is substantially low than the highest warming observed over India during 2016 (+0.71°C)

• Past decade (2001-2010/ 2011-2020) was also the warmest decade on record with exception of 0.23°C/0.34°C.

• In 2020, the average annual mean land surface air temperature across India was +0.290°C above normal (based on 1981 2010 data) • As per 'The State of the Global Climate 2020' released by World Meteorological Organisation(WMO), the global mean surface temperature during January to October, 2020 was +1.2°C.

• The 5 warmest years on record are the following namely, 2016 (+0.71°C), 2009 (+0.55°C), 2017(+0.541°C), 2010 (+0.539°C), and 2015 (+0.42°C)

• Of the 15 warmest years, 12 were during the recent fifteen years (2006-2020).

• The average annual mean temperature of India during 1901-2020 displayed an increasing trend of 0.62°C/100 years with increasing trend in maximum temperature (0.99°C/100 years) and relatively lower increasing trend (0.24°C/100 years) in minimum temperature.

• The 2020 total annual rainfall across India was 109% of its Long Period Average(LPA) of 117.7 cms based on the data of 1961-2010.

• During 2020, 5 cyclones were formed over the North Indian Ocean, namely Super cyclonic Storm "Amphan'(named by Thailand), Very Severe Cyclonic Storms 'Nivar'(named by Iran) & 'Gati'(named by India), Severe Cyclonic Storm 'Nisarga'(named by Bangladesh) and Cyclonic Storm 'Burevi'(named by Maldives).

 About India Meteorological Department (IMD):

• Director General of Metrology(DGM)- Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra
• Headquarters- New Delhi, Delhi

Maharashtra Celebrates Marathi Journalist Day on January 6, 2021

• Marathi Journalist day is celebrated every year on January 6 across Maharashtra in the memory of Late Balshastri Jambhekar, who is known as the 'Father of Marathi journalism'.

• The first issue of the first newspaper in Marathi, Darpan', founded by Balshastri Jambhekar was issued on January 6, 1832.

• Since then this day has been celebrated as the Marathi Journalist day in the State.

• Another significance of January 6 is on this day Balshastri Jambhekar was born in 1812 at Sindhudurg district, Maharashtra.

• He is known as Father of Marathi journalism for his contribution to Marathi Journalism and for starting first Marathi newspaper and the first Marathi monthly named 'Digdarshan' in 1840