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Current Affairs for IAS Exams - 13 December 2020

::NATIONAL::

The Health Ministry released partial data from the fifth edition of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) claiming “considerable improvement” in the supply of vaccine for childhood immunisation from the fourth round in 2015-16.

Key highlights:

Substantial improvement in maternal and child health indicators over NFHS-4 was recorded in the present survey.
The fertility rate has further declined, and contraceptive use has increased in most Phase I States.
The survey found considerable improvement in vaccination coverage among children aged 12-23 months across all States/UTs.
The newest edition too has information on population, health and nutrition for India, and is based on statistics gleaned from 6.1 lakh households.
The survey found considerable improvement in vaccination coverage among children aged 12-23 months across all States/UTs. Women’s empowerment indicators (including women with bank account) also portray considerable progress.
Typically, NFHS data has an accompanying summary that explains changes in key health indicators from previous surveys. The latest edition lacks such a national comparison and instead only has tables listing out data from the 17 States and five UTs.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs launched a programme of Socio-Economic Profiling of PM SVANidhibeneficiaries and their families.
Based on the profiled data, benefits of the various eligible Central Schemes would be extended to them fortheir holistic socio-economic upliftment.
PM SVANidhi was launched with an objective to provide affordable working capital loan up to Rs. 10,000 toStreet Vendors for facilitating resumption of their livelihoods adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United Nations (UN), United Kingdom (UK) and France are proud to be co-hosting the Climate Ambition Summit 2020, in partnership with Chile and Italy on 12 December held virtually.
It exactly five years since the adoption of the Paris Agreement.
UN chief has urged world leaders to declare a “state of climate emergency” and shape greener growth after the coronavirus pandemic, as he opened a summit marking five years since the landmark Paris Agreement.
The commitments made in Paris in 2015 were “far from enough” to limit temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius, the UN secretary-general said in his opening address to the summit, which is co-hosted by Britain and France.
The Summit is a major step on the road to the next UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26), which will be hosted by the UK next November in Glasgow.
The Summit will provide leaders with a global platform to showcase commitments to tackle climate change which will be under the three pillars of the Paris Agreement: mitigation, adaptation and finance commitments. There will be no space for general statements.

It is a $9 billion initiative, launched by Asian Development Bank (ADB), that will help its developing membereconomies to procure and deliver Coronavirus vaccines.
Parts covered by its facility include cold-chain storage and transport, vehicles, distribution infrastructure,and also processing facilities.

APVAX will have two components:

Rapid Response Component to support critical vaccine diagnostics, procurement of vaccines, andtransporting vaccines.
Project Investment Component for investments in systems for successful distribution, delivery, andadministration of vaccines along with associated investments in building capacity.

The Haryana government has decided to restructure and redesignate the Command Area Development Authority (CADA) as Micro Irrigation and Command Area Development Authority (MICADA) for the effective implementation of micro-irrigation projects, especially in the water-deficient areas, along with watercourses work on various canal commands in the state.
The aim of the present state government has been to ensure optimum and effective utilisation of available water resources in the state. While implementing the micro-irrigation projects, priority should be given to the areas having scarcity of water.
The government also encourage to farmers to know about the benefits of micro-irrigation so as to encourage them to adopt micro-irrigation techniques in agriculture to conserve waters.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) willintroduce 3D printing policy.
It aimed at promoting 3D printing on an industrial scale and helping domestic companies.
The policy will help develop a “conducive ecosystem for design, development and deployment” of 3D printing and additive manufacturing.

About:

3D printing and a viable industry around it is mostly in the shape of additive manufacturing, wherein companies make specific products for projects where there are very specific demands such as lightweight equipment, etc.
A draft policy paper on the subject will soon be sent out to experts in the domain to seek their opinion on the way ahead.
The global market for additive manufacturing is expected to reach $ 34.8 billion by 2024, which is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 23.2 per cent, according to the IT Ministry’s estimates.
3D printing or additive manufacturing uses computer-aided designing to make prototypes or working models of objects by laying down successive layers of materials such as plastic, resin, thermoplastic, metal, fiber or ceramic.
With the help of software, the model to be printed is first developed by the computer, which then gives instructions to the 3D printer.
According to the draft policy, the Central Government will also look to encourage market leaders to establish global bases for 3D manufacturing in India, while also discouraging imports of printed material for domestic requirements.