“PRAKASH” portal
Context : PRAKASH (Power Rail Koyla Availability through Supply Harmony) portal has been launched for transparency and better coordination in coal supplies to power plants.
Aim : The Portal aims at bringing better coordination for coal supplies among all stakeholders viz – Ministry of Power, Ministry of Coal, Coal India, Railways and power utilities. This is an important step in ensuring adequate availability and optimum utilization of coal at thermal power plants.
The Portal is designed to help in mapping and monitoring entire coal supply chain for power plants, viz –
- Coal Stock at supply end (mines),
- coal quantities/ rakes planned,
- coal quantity in transit and
- coal availability at power generating station.
Benefits of Portal to the Stakeholders
The portal makes available following information on a single platform –
- Coal company will be able to track stocks and the coal requirement at power stations for effective production planning
- Indian Railways will plan to place the rakes as per actual coal available at siding and stock available at power stations.
- Power stations can plan future schedule by knowing rakes in pipe line and expected time to Reach.
- Stock at power generating station
- Ministry of Power /Ministry of Coal/ CEA/ POSOCO can review overall availability of coal at thermal power plants in different region.
“Audio Odigos”
Context : Ministry of Tourism launches Audio Guide facility App “Audio Odigos” for 12 sites of India (including Iconic Sites).
Features :
- Audio odigo offers Government of India verified content, with visuals & voice over support.
- With Audio Odigos, tourists will now enjoy a more enriching experience and take back historical insights of the Indian culture and heritage.
- The Audio Odigos app contains an inbuilt map of the site for a smooth navigation during the tour.
- Listeners will be offered various versions of history like Synopsis, Detailed History and Podcasts.
- The audio can be chosen in their preferred language & version of the history.
‘Stations’ Cleanliness Survey Report
Context: ‘Stations’ Cleanliness Survey Report’ (Cleanliness assessment of Non-suburban and Suburban Stations 2019) has been released.
How are the stations ranked?
The total score is out of 1000 and each component (Process Evaluation, Direct Observation, Citizen Feedback) weighs 33.33% of the total score.
Background:
Railways have been conducting third party audit and cleanliness ranking of 407 major stations annually since 2016. This year the survey was expanded to include 720 stations and suburban stations were also included for the first time.
Key highlights and findings of the report:
- Top three cleanest railways stations are from the western state of Rajasthan- Jaipur, Jodhpur and Durgapura.
- Top three railway zones- North Western Railway followed by South East Central Railway and East Central Railway.
- Andheri, Virar and Naigaon railway stations were the top three among 109 suburban stations.
Efforts in this regard:
Cleanliness programme is being conducted over 6500 stations across Indian Railways to showcase the efforts putting in by Indian Railways to keep trains, stations and railway premises clean.
Indian Railways has also banned single use plastic across its premises today onwards.
Hyderabad Nizam win UK court battle with Pakistan for £35m
Context: The UK high court has ruled in favour of India and the titular 8th Nizam of Hyderabad and his younger brother in a case they had been fighting against Pakistan relating to who has the rights to £35m (Rs 306 crore) stashed away in a British bank account since Partition.
Dispute :
- On September 20, 1948, a corpus of £1 million and one guinea had been transferred by the 7th Nizam of Hyderabad’s finance minister, Nawab Moin Nawaz Jung, from a government bank account to another in London held by Pakistan’s then high commissioner to the UK, Habib Ibrahim Rahimtoola.
- This was during the Indian annexation of the princely state of Hyderabad.
- The grandson of the 7th Nizam, Turkey-based Mukkaram Jah, and his younger brother Muffakham Jah have laid claim to the fund, saying it had been gifted to them in a trust set up by their grandfather on April 24, 1963.
- The Pakistan government, on the other hand, says it was a payment made by the erstwhile princely state to Pakistan for arming Hyderabad when it was about to be invaded by India.
- On July 8, 1954, the 7th Nizam together with the state of Hyderabad issued a writ before the UK high court against Pakistan and Rahimtoola, asking for the £1 million to be returned to them.
- On July 19, 1955, Rahimtoola got the writ set aside on the premise that the English courts were interfering with Pakistan’s sovereign immunity.
- The money has stayed frozen in a British bank account ever since and grown to £35 million in the span of seven decades.
Pakistan’s arguments:
- Referred to as the Arms for Money Argument, these funds were transferred to compensate/reimburse/indemnify Pakistan for assistance provided in procuring/facilitating the supply and/or transportation of weapons.
- The funds were transferred in order to keep them out of the hands of India, referred to by the judge as the Safeguarding Argument.
- The facts of this case were such as to render it non-justiciable because the original transfer was governmental in nature and that India’s annexation of Hyderabad in 1948 was an unlawful act, which tainted India and Nizam VIII’s claim.
What did the court say?
The fund was held by Pakistan through her high commissioner in the UK on trust for Nizam VII and his successors in title. The fund was not held by Rahimtoola personally, nor did either Pakistan or Rahimtoola have any beneficial interest in the fund.
Vayoshreshtha Samman
In News
- These are given to eminent senior citizens and Institutions involved in rendering distinguished services for the cause of elderly persons.
- The series of awards were instituted by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in the year 2005 and were elevated to the level of national awards in 2013.
- Generally, the awards are conferred by the President of India on the 1st October i.e. on the occasion of International Day of Older Persons (IDOP).
- This year Tamil Nadu is given the award for the best State in implementing the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007
- Tamil Nadu State has set up maintenance tribunals under the Act in each sub-division, but half of the cases are resolved through conciliation.
- The municipal council of Unhel, in Ujjain district of Madhya Pradesh, will receive the award for the best urban local bodyfor itsprovision of medical services, income generation schemes and pension to seniors.
OPEN-DEFECATION FREE (ODF)
In News
- On the occasion of 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, PM Modi announced that rural India and its villages have declared themselves open-defecation free (ODF).
What is ODF?
- A village is ODF when: (i) there are no visible faeces in the village, and (ii) every household as well as public/community institution uses safe technology options for faecal disposal.
- After a village declares itself ODF, states are required to carry out verification of the ODF status of such a village. This includes access to a toilet facility and its usage, and safe disposal of faecal matter through septic tanks.
‘Mo Sarkar’ initiative
Context: Odisha has launched a new governance initiative- ‘Mo Sarkar’- on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti
What is it?
The ‘Mo Sarkar’ was launched at all police stations across the State along with 21 district headquarters hospitals and three government-run medical college hospitals at Cuttack, Berhampur and Sambalpur.
The programme will be effective at all the 30 district headquarters hospitals of the State by October 30.
Objective : The objective of the programme is to provide service with dignity to people who are coming to government offices for different purposes.
How it works?
- The phone numbers of people who are coming to government offices will be collected randomly with the purpose to improve the governance system by collecting feedback on behaviour and professionalism of government officers.
- The Chief Minister, Departmental Minister, Director General of Police (in case of police stations) and Departmental Minister, Secretary and Director (in case of hospitals) will call on random numbers to collect feedback.
- The employees will be ranked as good or bad on the basis of the feedback and those with good rank will get out-of-turn promotion and action will be taken against employees with bad rank.