18th May 2017 The Hindu & PIB Daily Current Affairs

1) Cabinet's nod for 10 indigeneous pressurised heavy water nuclear reactors

The decision comes against the backdrop of recent troubles for India’s international collaborations in nuclear projects (Westinghouse's bankruptcy case + Areva's negotiations over costing)

A pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a nuclear reactor, commonly using unenriched natural uranium as its fuel, that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and neutron moderator.

Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 has been increased through the process of isotope separation

Nuclear power 4th largest source of electricity in  India after Thermal, hydro & Renewable.

Nuclear Power plants in India:

Active-Tarapur(MH),Rawatbhata(Rajasthan){India’s first PHWR}, Kudankulam + Kalpakkam(TN),Kaiga(KN), Kakrapar(Gujarat), Narora(UP)
Planned- Jaitapur(MH), Kovvada(A.P), Chutka(MP),etc.

2) The Cabine coal linkage policy-Scheme for Harnessing and Allocating Koyala Transparently in India (SHAKTI)

• It will award fuel supply agreements to coal plants already holding letters of assurance (LoAs).Hence it will assure adequate supply of fuel to power plants .
• Will reduce power costs to customers.
• Will cut down on the use of imported coal.
• Will help banks exposed to the power sector to cut down on NPAs.

Other approvals:

3)NTRO(National Technical ResearchOrganisation) now under The
Intelligence Organisations (Restriction of Rights) Act, 1985,:

• It reports to the Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) and the National Securit Advisor (NSA)
• It will now have the same “norms of conduct” as the Intelligenc Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW)
• The Act prevents employees of a notified agency from forming unions/associations, puts restrictions on the employee’s freedom of speech, bars any communication with the press, or publishing a book or other document without the permission of the head of the intelligence organisation.
• The NTRO was created after the 1999 Kargil conflict as a dedicated technical intelligence agency.

4)Rail Swachh Report on station cleanliness carried out by the Quality Control of India (QCI), IRCTC

Visakhapatnam railway station is the cleanest, followed by Secunderabad and Jammu Tawi.
Darbhanga in Bihar is the dirtiest among these major stations classified as A1.
The QCI evaluated cleanliness at 407 railway stations’ parking, main entry area, main platform and waiting room. Passenger feedback was also factored in.
Telangana has relatively cleaner stations than other states.

5) Pan-India implementation of Maternity Benefit Program 

Objective of the Scheme

i) To provide partial compensation for the wage loss in terms of cash incentives so that the woman can take adequate rest before and after delivery of the first living child.

ii) The cash incentives provided would lead to improved health seeking behaviour amongst the Pregnant Women and Lactating Mother (PW&LM) to reduce the effects of under-nutrition namely stunting, wasting and other related problems.

Target Group

All eligible Pregnant Women and Lactating Mothers (PW&LM), excluding those who are in regular employment with the Central Government or State Government or Public Sector Undertakings or those who are in receipt of similar benefits under any law for the time being.

It has been decided to give the benefit of Rs.5000/- to PW&LM in three installment for the birth of the first live child by MWCD and the remaining cash incentive as per approved norms towards Maternity Benefit under existing programmes after institutional delivery so that on an average, a woman will get ₹ 6000/-

Questions for the Day:

1. Functions of GST Council and GST network

2. INSPIRE programme

3. PM Garib Kalyan Yojana

Thank you & Have a nice day!!