Current Affairs for IAS Exams – 8 July 2015

:: National ::

MNREGA,ranked world's largest public works programme

• India's rural employment guarantee programme MNREGA has been ranked as the world's largest public works programme, providing social security net to almost 15 percent of the country's population, the World Bank has said.

• India is among the five middle-income countries running the world's largest social safety net programmes, said a World Bank Group's report 'The State of Social Safety Nets 2015'.

• "The world's five largest social safety net programmes are all in middle-income countries (China, India, South Africa and Ethiopia) and reach over 526 million people," it added.

• The combined spending on social safety nets in 120 developing countries amounted to about USD 329 billion between 2010 and 2014, it said.

• But, the report said, three quarters of the poorest people in low-and lower-middle income countries, and more than one-third of the poorest people in middle-income countries, lack safety net coverage and remain at risk.

• India's Mid-day meal scheme has been classified as biggest school feeding programme benefiting 105 million beneficiaries.

• The top honours for public works programme went to MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act) with 182 million beneficiaries or 15 percent of India's population.

• The World Bank ranked the Janani Suraksha Yojna with 78 million beneficiaries as the top-most social security programme with conditional cash transfers.

• Also, it ranked the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme as the second-largest unconditional cash transfer social security progamme in the world.

• The report follows the recent joint statement by the heads of the World Bank Group and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), endorsing the goal of universal access to social protection -- including safety nets -- by 2030.

•  Well-designed programs are cost-effective, costing countries only between 1.5 percent and 1.9 percent of GDP ? far less than most government spending on fuel subsidies.

• The Third Financing for Development Conference in Addis Ababa next week is an opportunity to ensure that the international community has the means to make the goal of universal access to social protection - including safety nets- by 2030 --

Digital India costly for gram panchayats?

• The Union government’s much publicised Digital India programme, under which gram panchayat offices are provided with high-speed internet facility through fibre cable, has attracted objections regarding tariff.

• Several gram panchayats and officers of the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department have pointed out that the monthly charges fixed for the facility are too high for gram panchayats to bear.

• Under the Fibre to The Home (FTTH) programme, gram panchayats are provided high speed (ranging from 10 Mbps to 100 Mbps) internet facility.

• The minimum cost under this scheme is Rs. 3,999 per month (10 Mbps with up to 50 GB data).

• BSNL has announced high-end packages minimum with 10 mbps speed, and up to 50 GB data. Our officers are working out how much data we require.

• Some GPs lack funds to meet their expenses related to basic amenities like water and cleaning.

India’s positive approach on poverty: MDG report

• India has halved its incidence of extreme poverty, from 49.4% in 1994 to 24.7% in 2011 ahead of the deadline of 2015 set by the United Nations, shows the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Report 2015 it released on Tuesday.

• The report set the limit for extreme poverty as those living on $1.25 or less a day.

• However, this reduction in poverty is still less than that achieved by several of India’s poorer neighbours.

• Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh have each outstripped India in poverty reduction over comparable time periods.

• While the report says India is on-track to achieving the hunger targets, it still remains home to one quarter of the world’s undernourished population, over a third of the world’s underweight children, and nearly a third of the world’s food-insecure people

• The report is especially important because it marks the deadline by which the MDG should have been achieved. India has already achieved 11 out of 22 parameters in the report—spanning issues like education, poverty, health, and education— and is on track to achieve one more by the end of 2015.

Demand grows for release of caste census data (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Kalpakkam breeder reactor to go on stream (Register and Login to read Full News..)

Intel interested in ‘Digital India’ initiative (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: International ::

Greece gets new timeline

• Frustrated and angered eurozone leaders gave Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras a last-minute chance Tuesday to finally come up with a viable proposal on how to save his country from financial ruin.

• Overcoming their surprise when Tsipras failed to present them with a detailed plan, the leaders reluctantly agreed to a final summit Sunday, saying that could give both sides an opportunity to stave off collapse of the struggling but defiant member nation.

• European Union President Donald Tusk says the protracted negotiations to keep Greece from financial collapse and in the eurozone "is maybe the most critical moment in our history."

• After calling for the emergency summit in the wake of Sunday's Greek No vote to proposals from its eurozone partners, Tusk said the 19 leaders agreed to give Tsipras one final shot to keep his nation afloat with the aid of his allies sharing the euro currency.

'We have a Grexit scenario'

• And highlighting the rising anger with Tsipras over months of foot-dragging and surprising negotiating twists, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker had a stark warning for Greece.

• With Greece's banks just days away from a potential collapse that could drag the country out of the euro, Tsipras arrived with only vague proposals and a commitment to back it up with real figures and a more detailed plan by Thursday.

• According to a joint statement of the leaders, Tsipras must set out Greece's proposals in detail for a reform agenda. The country's international creditors will then assess the plan to prepare for another meeting of eurogroup finance ministers and ultimately Sunday's summit of the full EU.

:: Business ::

Centre is looking at raising 15,000 crore via gold bond scheme

• The Centre is looking at raising Rs.15,000 crore in the current fiscal through the gold bond scheme, for which a Cabinet note is likely to be moved for consideration later in the month.

• The interest rate for the scheme, which was announced by the Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech, would be close to the rates on government securities,

• The Finance Ministry last month came out with a discussion paper on the sovereign gold bond scheme. It had suggested that the scheme be linked to the government borrowing programme.

• “We are targeting to raise Rs.15,000 crore, and the issuance would be for retail investors in tranches,” the official added.

• The proposed scheme, which aims to shift part of the estimated 300 tonnes of physical gold bar purchased every year to demat gold bond, will be marketed through post offices and brokers on commission basis.

• “The final contours and timing will be decided by the Public Debt Management Agency (PDMA), which is the RBI. The Finance Ministry will get a Cabinet nod for it,” the official said.

• The government plans to borrow Rs.6 lakh crore in current fiscal, of which Rs.3.6 lakh crore would be done in the first-half.

• The bonds would be issued in 2, 5, 10 gram of gold or other denominations, it said adding that the tenor of the bond could be for a minimum of 5 to 7 years so that it would protect investors from medium-term volatility in gold prices.

Sriram Kalyanaraman new MD and CEO of NHB (Register and Login to read Full News..)

:: Sports ::

Yogeshwar Dutt & Narsingh book world championship berths

•  London Olympic bronze medallist Yogeshwar Dutt and Narsingh Yadav on Tuesday qualified for the world wrestling championships.

• While Yogeshwar Dutt overcame a fighting Amit Kumar Dhankar of Haryana 6-3, Narsingh Yadav put it past Praveen Rana.

• In the background of Amit Kumar going to court about the selection of the national team for the Commonwealth Games last year without the trials, there was tremendous interest in Yogeshwar’s bout and thousands turned up at the K.D. Jadhav wrestling arena at the Indira Gandhi Stadium.

• In the 74kg category Narsingh Yadav made the cut with a 6-5 closely-fought win over Praveen Rana. Sushil Kumar, who recently sustained an injury to his right shoulder and opted out of the World Championship, was on hand to witness the proceedings.

• The 16-member team will first compete in a preparatory event in Kazakhstan. Sonu of Services has been selected only for the Kazakhstan event in freestyle, and will have a final trial against Commonwealth Games and world championship medallist Bajrang Kumar, who could not attend the trial owing to an injury.

• The world championship will offer the first set of qualification berths for the Rio Olympics.

Pro boxing body to be launched in India on Wednesday (Register and Login to read Full News..)

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Sources: Various News Papers & PIB

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