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Distribution: yearly

  • 2020 as the “Year of the Nurse and Midwife”

    The World Health Organisation (WHO) has selected the year 2020 as the international “Year of the Nurse and Midwife”.

    Year of the Nurse and Midwife

    • It was decided in the honour of 200th birthday of Florence Nightingale.
    • WHO said that nurses and midwives are the people who devote their lives to caring for children and mothers, looking after senior citizens and giving lifesaving immunizations.
    • The declaration will help to strengthen nursing and midwifery for Universal Health Coverage.
    • The declaration will also help to endorse “The NursingNow!” a three-year campaign (2018-2020) to improve health globally by raising the status of nursing.

  • ‘MANI’ app

    With an eye to aid the differently-abled, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has launched a mobile app to identify currency notes.

    MANI App

    • ‘MANI’, is an acronym for Mobile Aided Note Identifier.
    • The visually challenged can identify the denomination of a note by using the application, which can also work offline once it is installed.
    • A user will have to scan the notes using the camera and it will give the audio output to give out results in Hindi and English.
    • RBI has clarified that the app does not authenticate a note as either genuine or counterfeit.

  • National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP)

    Union Finance Minister has unveiled Rs 102 lakh crore of infrastructure projects, under National Infrastructure Pipeline. It will be implemented in the next five years as part of the government’s spending push in the infrastructure sector.

    What is the National Infrastructure Pipeline (NIP)?

    • NIP includes economic and social infrastructure projects.
    • During the fiscals 2020 to 2025, sectors such as Energy (24%), Roads (19%), Urban (16%), and Railways (13%) amount to around 70% of the projected capital expenditure in infrastructure in India.
    • It has outlined plans to invest more than ₹102 lakh crore on infrastructure projects by 2024-25, with the Centre, States and the private sector to share the capital expenditure in a 39:39:22 formula.

    Key benefits of NIP

    • Economic: Well-planned NIP will enable more infra projects, grow businesses, create jobs, improve ease of living, and provide equitable access to infrastructure for all, making growth more inclusive.
    • Government: Well-developed infrastructure enhances the level of economic activity, creates additional fiscal space by improving the revenue base of the government, and ensures the quality of expenditure focused in productive areas.
    • Developers: Provides a better view of project supply, provides time to be better prepared for project bidding, reduces aggressive bids/ failure in project delivery, ensures enhanced access to sources of finance as a result of increased investor confidence.
    • Banks/financial institutions (F1s)/investors: Builds investor confidence as identified projects are likely to be better prepared, exposures less likely to suffer stress given active project monitoring, thereby less likelihood of NPAs.

    Is NIP a road to $5 trillion economy?

    • Finance minister said that the Rs 102 lakh crore National Infrastructure Projects will help make India a $5 trillion economy by 2025.
    • These projects are on top of Rs 51 lakh crore spent by the Centre and the states during the last six years.
    • The new pipeline consists of 39 per cent projects each by the Centre and states and the balance by 22 per cent by private sector.

  • [pib] Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS)

    In order to enable applicants to track the status of the application, the Election Commission of India has launched a “Political Parties Registration Tracking Management System (PPRTMS)”.

    About PPRTMS

    • The salient feature in the PPRTMS is that the applicant, who is applying for party registration from 1st January, 2020 will be able to track the progress of his/her application and will get status update through SMS and e-mail.
    • The status can be tracked through the Commission’s portal at link https://pprtms.eci.gov.in/.

    Back2Basics

    Registration of political parties

    • Registration of political parties is governed by the provisions of Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
    • An association seeking registration under the said Section has to submit an application to the ECI within a period of 30 days following the date of its formation.
    • These guidelines are in exercise by ECI of the powers conferred by Article 324 of the Constitution of India and Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.