IMPRESS scheme has been launched to promote Social Science Research in the country - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

IMPRESS scheme has been launched to promote Social Science Research in the country.

The Government has approved “Revitalising Infrastructure and Systems in Education by 2022”, as per which the scope of institutions to be funded through Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) has been enlarged to encompass School Education and Medical Education institutions, apart from Higher Education. The total authorized equity capital of HEFA has been raised to Rs.10,000 crore, with the facility to leverage additional resources from the market, based on requirement.

A total Government equity of Rs. 6,000 Crore, has been approved. All funds for educational infrastructure in centrally funded educational institutions will henceforth be in the form of ten year loans through HEFA to the institution, the interest liability of which would be borne by the Government.
The principal repayment would be undertaken by the institutions in part or full depending on their age profile and financial capability. For new institutions and those which have limited internal fund generating capacity, the entire principal and interest repayment would be undertaken by the Government. There is an additional window of financing for school and medical education institutions where the sponsoring Department would undertake to repay the principal and interest to HEFA. So far, HEFA has approved projects of Rs. 24430 Crore with total loan amount of Rs. 12307 Crore.

The Government of India, in August 2018, had sanctioned the scheme “Impactful Policy Research in Social Sciences (IMPRESS)” at a total cost of Rs. 414 Cr for implementation up to 31.03.2021. Under the Scheme, 1500 research projects will be awarded for 2 years to support the social science research in the higher educational institutions and to enable research to guide policy making.
• The Indian Council of Social Science and Research (ICSSR) will be the project implementing agency.
• The broad objectives of the scheme are:
i. To identify and fund research proposals in social sciences with maximum impact on the governance and society.
ii. To focus research on (11) broad thematic areas such as : State and Democracy, Urban transformation, Media, Culture and Society, Employment, Skills and Rural transformation , Governance, Innovation and Public Policy, Growth, Macro-trade and Economic Policy, Agriculture and Rural Development, Health and Environment, Science and Education, Social Media and Technology, Politics, Law and Economics. The sub- theme areas will be decided on the basis of Expert Groups’ advice before notifying the scheme and calling for applications.
iii. To ensure selection of projects through a transparent, competitive process on online mode.
iv. To provide opportunity for social science researchers in any institution in the country, including all Universities (Central and State), private institutions with 12(B) status conferred by UGC.
v. ICSSR funded/ recognized research institutes will also be eligible to submit research proposals on the given themes and sub-themes.
• The following will be the modalities for implementation:-
a. There will be (4) calls for proposals- October, 2018, February 2019, September 2019 and February 2020. The process of evaluation of the proposals and selection will be completed within 90 days from the date of call for proposals.
b. The experts for evaluation of proposals will be persons of eminence and selected using objective criteria.
c. There will be a regular monitoring of the progress of projects using the online portal, in which the progress can be directly updated by the Project Coordinator.
d. There will be a third party evaluation of the projects in March 2021.


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IMPRESS scheme has been launched to promote Social Science Research in the country.

Modicare to be launched on 25 September - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Modicare to be launched on 25 September.

10 crore family will get Rs 5 lakh health insurance, hospitals to be built in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Ayushman Bharat, the National Health Protection Mission (AB-NHPM) or Modicare, will be launched on September 25 this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Wednesday in his Independence Day Speech.

“The scheme will be launched on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Deen Dayal Upadhyay. Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan, 10 crore family will get Rs 5 lakh health insurance. Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan will also lead to employment,” said the Prime Minister.
Many hospitals will be built in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, he said adding that it is high time we ensure that the poor of India get access to good quality and affordable healthcare.
Emphasising the healthcare initiatives of his government, Modi said that the efforts will have a positive impact on 50 crore Indians. “It is essential to ensure that we free the poor of India from the clutches of poverty due to which they cannot afford healthcare,” Modi said.
“Due to the Swachh Bharat mission, lakhs of children can lead healthier lives. Even the World Health Organisation (WHO) has praised this movement,” he said.
In his speech on Independence Day, the Prime Minister also talked about malnutrition among children. “I want that children in my country become free of malnutrition and all poor people get quality and affordable healthcare,” Modi said.
The national health insurance scheme will be implemented through over 300,000 common service centers (CSCs) across the country. CSCs are access points with basic computing infrastructure run and operated by a local entrepreneur. These centres will help beneficiaries to identify their names in the ministry of health database and their entitlements under the scheme.
Currently, 28 states are on board for inclusion in the AB- NHPM Scheme while 8 states have yet to join. At the national level, all guidelines covering the scheme are in place and the IT backbone has been prepared. Flexibility has been accorded to states with regard to coverage, cost and the insurance model.
AB-NHPM, popularly known as ‘Modicare’ and billed as the world’s largest health assurance scheme, will provide Rs 5 lakh insurance cover, per family per year, to over 1 million poor households, or 50 million people based on the socio-economic caste census, for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation. (Source: Livemint)


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Modicare to be launched on 25 September.

Chandrayaan-2 to be launched in January-March window in 2019, says ISRO - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Chandrayaan-2 to be launched in January-March window in 2019, says ISRO.

The reason for postponing the mission was that there were certain important changes made in the design so that it could easily land on the lunar surface, an ISRO official said.

India’s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 will now be launched in the January-March window in 2019 instead of later this year as the design was changed to enable it to land on the lunar surface, a top ISRO official said on Sunday. “We have planned to launch Chandrayaan mission in January
We are fixing with that (date) and targeting that. But that is an open window. We can go up to March also. As we are coming closer (the date), we may miss the target,” he said.
The reason for postponing the mission was that there were certain important changes made in the design so that it could easily land on the lunar surface, he said. He was speaking on the sidelines of a function, where the bust of Dr Vikram Sarabhai, the architect of the Indian space mission, was unveiled.
Asked why the weight of Chandrayaan-2 was increased by 600 kg, he said ISRO noticed during experiments that after the moon lander was ejected, the satellite would shake. So they decided that the design modification was required for landing and mass has to be increased. “We also realised that the orbiter required more phases, which required more fuel,” he told reporters.
On the space agency’s future missions, Sivan said ISRO also plans to launch 50 satellites in the next three years. The space agency would launch 22 satellites in 2019, the maximum in any year in the history of ISRO, he said. “Next year from February to December we plan to have 22 missions with almost two missions per month, which is a very important activity. This tight schedule of programmes we are doing for the first time. We have set a target. We may not be able to achieve but we are targeting it. So many missions in a year is a huge target for the first time in the history of ISRO,” Sivan said.
The remaining months of 2018 would also be very hectic for ISRO as it plans to launch at least two missions every month, he said. “Our next mission is PSLV C42, which will launch NOVASAT and S1-4. These two satellites are commercial satellites from the UK. It is a commercial mission and is planned in September. Subsequently, we have two missions each month,” the ISRO chief said.
In October this year, ISRO would launch GSAT29 for the Digital India programme and hyper spectrum imaging satellites along with 30 commercial satellites, Sivan said. The following month GSAT-7A will be launched, while in December there would be two missions, GSLV-F11 launching AMISAT and GSAT-31, a replacement for INSAT 4CR, whose life will get over by January, he said. ISRO would have two missions Chandrayan-2 by GSLV Mark 3 and the PSLV P45 launching RA-SAT 2B next year. The focus area of these launches was to enhance the communication so that rural India gets high bandwidth data connectivity, somewhere between 80 GBPS to 100 GBPS, he said.
Asked about GSAT 6A, with which communication had been lost after its launch in March 31 this year, he said ISRO has not given up hope and was still trying to establish radar contact with the satellite. “We have not given up hope. We will wait till a year,” he said when asked how much time ISRO would take to announce that the GSAT 6A was a failed mission.


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Chandrayaan-2 to be launched in January-March window in 2019, says ISRO.

Solar Charkha Mission to be launched soon in 50 clusters: Giriraj Singh - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis.

Solar Charkha Mission to be launched soon in 50 clusters: Giriraj Singh.

The Solar Charkha Mission of the Ministry of Micro Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), will be launched by the President, Ram Nath Kovind on June 27, 2018 in New Delhi. The Mission will cover 50 clusters and every cluster will employ 400 to 2000 artisans. The Mission has been approved by the Government of India and will disburse subsidy of Rs. 550 crore to the artisans. This was informed by the Minister of MSME at a press conference in New Delhi today while releasing a booklet on the 4 years’ achievement of his Ministry.
The Minister further informed that 15 new state-of-the-art technology centers are being set up all over the country including North-East, of which 10 centers will become operational by March 2019. Each center is being built at a cost of around Rs. 150 crore. The 10 centers which will become operational soon are located in Durg (Chhattisgarh), Bhiwadi (Rajasthan), Rohtak (Haryana), Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Bengaluru (Karnataka), Sitarganj (Uttarakhand), Baddi (Himachal Pradesh), Bhopal (M.P.), Kanpur (U.P.) and Puducherry.
The Minister further informed that under Prime Minister's Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) budgetary allocation for FY 2018-19 has been increased by 75% to Rs. 1,800 crore. In order to incentivize entrepreneurs, mainly women and SC/ST, Government will be making an investment of about Rs. 10,000 crore in the micro sector in this financial year.
The Minister also informed that work being done by the Ministry has promoted Ease-of-Doing-Business with the setting up of 4 portals: ‘MSME Sambandh’, MSME Samadhaan, Udyog Aadhaar and Udyam Sakhi.
He also informed that the Ministry of MSME has provided training to over 15 lakh people during the last 4 years through its various initiatives. (Source: PIB)

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Solar Charkha Mission to be launched soon in 50 clusters: Giriraj Singh.

Isro’s GSAT-6A communication satellite to be launched tomorrow, countdown begins - Pragnya IAS Academy - News Analysis

Isro’s GSAT-6A communication satellite to be launched tomorrow, countdown begins.

A key feature of Isro’s GSAT-6A communication satellite is to provide mobile communication to India through multi beam coverage facility.

The 27-hour countdown began on Wednesday for the launch of Isro’s GSLV-F08 mission carrying the GSAT-6A communication satellite from the space port of Sriharikota, about 110 kms from Chennai.
The countdown for the mission to be launched tomorrow started at 13.56 hours following clearance from the Mission Readiness Review committee and Launch Authorisation Board, Isro said.
The Launch of GSLV-F08, planned from the Second Launch Pad in Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota at 16.56 hours tomorrow marks the 12th flight of Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle GSLV-F08 and sixth flight with indigenous Cryogenic upper stage.
GSAT-6A, is similar to GSAT-6, a high power S-band communication satellite built on I-2K satellite bus with a mission life of about ten years, it said.
A key feature of the satellite is providing mobile communication to India through multi beam coverage facility. The satellite will also provide a platform for developing technologies such as demonstration of 6 m S-Band Unfurlable Antenna, handheld ground terminals and network management techniques that could be useful in satellite based mobile communication applications.
GSLV-F08, weighing 415.6 tonnes with a height of 49.1 metre comes with notable improvements like induction of High Thrust Vikas Engine, electromechanical actuation system in place of electro-hydraulic actuation system. (Source: Livemint)


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Isro’s GSAT-6A communication satellite to be launched tomorrow, countdown begins.