Prelims Focus – 15th February 2024

1.PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana

In News: Prime Minister of India has recently launched PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana to provide free electricity to its beneficiaries.

• • In this scheme, the vital government will provide three hundred units of unfastened energy per month to its beneficiaries with the aid of making an investment worth ₹75,000 crores.
  • The free electricity scheme was earlier announced by the Finance Minister in an intervening time budget speech.
  • Target: It aims to light up 1 crore households.
  • Under the scheme, Urban Local Bodies and Panchayats shall be incentivised to promote rooftop sun structures in their jurisdictions.
  • The Central Government will guarantee no economic burden to the humans by imparting huge subsidies directly to their bank debts and offering incredibly concessional bank loans.

• Expected advantages:

• • Savings of up to fifteen to eighteen thousand rupees yearly for households from loose solar electricity and selling the excess to the distribution corporations;
  • Charging of electric cars;
  • Entrepreneurship possibilities for a large quantity of vendors for supply and set up;
  • Employment opportunities for the youth with technical competencies in manufacturing, set up and renovation.

2.Swachhata Green Leaf Rating

In News:  Swachhata Green Leaf Rating system for the hospitality sector is yet to take off due to no response from States despite the Union Tourism Ministry sending three communiques so far.

• A government-initiated rating system for the hospitality zone which ambitions to ensure world-class hygiene and sanitation in hotels, resorts and homestays has become a non-starter with no State opting for it as of now.
• Objective: The objective is to prevent pollutants in water bodies and keep the environment clean.
• Target group: The goal corporations are hotels, inns, homestays, ‘Dharamshalas’ and camps which have portable lavatories. The score could be based totally on compliance with the secure sanitation practices outlined inside the hints.
  • The ranking scheme was launched in November 2023 by the Union Tourism Ministry in collaboration with the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation.
  • As part of the initiative, the State teams of Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin (rural) and the tourism department will organise workshops on the idea, system and preferred effects for the stakeholders.
• Implementation: A three-tiered committee device has been proposed for implementation, beginning with a Verification Sub-Committee formed by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) for the on-floor verification, accompanied via a District Committee, which the District Collector will chair and then a State-stage committee, headed by way of the Chief Secretary of the State.

3.GROW initiative

Recent news: NITI Aayog has launched the Greening and Restoration of Wasteland with Agroforestry (GROW) initiative to promote environmental conservation and sustainable land use in India.

Details:

• The initiative uses advanced technology to analyze specific regions in India and determine their suitability for agroforestry.
• It aims to transform unused areas, particularly wastelands, into productive agroforestry zones. Currently, only 8.65% of India’s land is used for agroforestry.
• Agroforestry is a method of managing land that integrates both agriculture and forestry practices, where trees or shrubs are grown together with crops or pasture.

4.World Unani Day

Recent news: On February 11, World Unani Day was celebrated in Dhaka, Bangladesh at Hamdard University, in honour of Hakim Ajmal Khan, a renowned Indian Unani scholar, on his birth anniversary.

Details: 

• Hakim Ajmal Khan, a renowned Indian Unani scholar, is honoured on World Unani Day, celebrated on February 11.
• Unani, also known as Yunani, is a medical system originating from Greece and developed by Arabs and Persians.
• The day aims to disseminate Hakim’s contributions to the field worldwide.
• Hakim invented the Unani Medical system and established three Unani institutions that played a crucial role in promoting awareness of Unani medicine.
• In 2017, the AYUSH Ministry designated his birth anniversary as Unani Day, with the first celebration held in Hyderabad.

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