It is a set to lauch pension scheme for small farmers by ‘Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare’.
It covers only small and marginal farmers who own less than 2 hectares of land. (while PM-KISAN is for all farmers)
It aims to improve the life of small and marginal farmers of the country.
The farmers will have to contribute Rs 100/p.m that seeks to provide minimum fixed monthly pension of Rs. 3000/- on attainment of 60 years.
It is a voluntary and contributory for farmers in the entry age group of 18 to 40 years..
The Centre will also contribute an equal amount to the pension fund to be managed by Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
Farmers can also allow contribution to be made directly from the benefits drawn from the PM-KISAN scheme.
The spouse is also eligible to get a separate pension of Rs.3000/- upon making separate contributions to the Fund.
In case of death of the farmer before retirement date, the spouse may continue the scheme by paying the remaining contributions.
If the spouse does not wish to continue, the total contribution made by the farmer along with interest will be paid to spouse.
If there is no spouse, then total contribution along with interest will be paid to the nominee.
If the farmer dies after the retirement date, the spouse will receive 50% of the pension as Family Pension.
After the death of both the farmer and the spouse, the accumulated corpus shall be credited back to the Pension Fund.
The beneficiaries may opt voluntarily to exit the Scheme after a minimum period of 5 years of regular contributions.
On exit, their entire contribution shall be returned by LIC with an interest equivalent to prevailing saving bank rates.
The initial enrollment to the Scheme is being done through the Common Service Centres in various states.
Quit India Movement anniversary
On 8 August, 1942 at the Bombay session of All India Congress led by Mahatma Gandhi passed a resolution of Quit India Movement.
It is also known as ‘August Kranti’ as ‘Gowalia Tank Maidan’ is also known as the August Kranti Maidan.
The movement gave the slogans ‘Quit India’ or ‘Bharat Chodo’ and Gandhi gave the famous slogan to the people – ‘Do or die’ (Karo ya Maro).
This resolution declared that the immediate ending of the British rule in India.
The INC was banned. Its leaders were jailed for almost the whole of the war.
Aruna Asaf Ali took over the AICC session and despite several police warnings a large crowd gathered at Mumbai's Gowalia Tank Maidan.
At that time, Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Indian Tricolour proudly.
It was the first time that the Indian Tricolour was hoisted in public.
In the absence of leadership, there were stray incidences of violence and damage to government property.
Many buildings were set on fire, electricity lines were cut and communication and transport lines were broken.
There was opposition from the Muslim League, the Communist Part of India and the Hindu Mahasabha to the movement.
In some places, parallel governments were also set up. Example: Ballia, Tamluk, Satara.
The movement had been suppressed due to ruthless use of force.
Rotavirus Vaccine
‘Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’ plans to expand Rotavirus vaccine coverage to all states.
Rotavirus is a viral infection that causes severe diarrhea in children, particularly in youngsters less than 2 years old.
In India, every year 37 out of every 1000 children born are unable to celebrate their 5th birthday and one of the major reasons for this is diarrheal deaths.
It is very contagious and the virus is found in the stool of a person during and after the time, the person has diarrhea.
Not washing a child's hands can lead to the virus contaminating other objects, such as toys.
Other children can then become infected, if they also touch these contaminated objects.
The virus easily spreads and causes inflammation in the stomach and intestines.
Two brands of vaccine are available to protect against rotavirus.
Antibiotics will not help because they fight bacteria not viruses.
Since rotavirus disease can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea, it can lead to dehydration.
The best way to protect against dehydration is to drink plenty of liquids.
Rotavirus vaccine along with proper sanitation, hand wash practices and zinc supplementation will helps in reducing the mortality and morbidity due to diarrhoea in children.
National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI), recommended introduction of rotavirus vaccine (RVV) in the Universal Immunization Programme (UIP).
Government is committed to ending morbidity and mortality in children due to diarrhoea by 2022.
National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI)
NTAGI is the highest advisory body on immunization in the country.
It consists of independent experts who provide recommendations on vaccines after reviewing data on disease burden, efficacy and cost-effectiveness of vaccines.
The Immunization Technical Support Unit (ITSU) was established to support MoHFW for evidence based planning.
One of the functions of ITSU was to host the NTAGI Secretariat to facilitate the secretarial work of NTAGI.