Prelim Bits 11-08-2018

‘One District One Product’ Summit

The President of India has recently inaugurated ‘One District One Product’ Summit in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.
‘One District One Product’ is a scheme developed by U.P state government to popularise products produced by MSME sector.
Under the scheme, the government has set a goal of providing employment to 25 lakh people in 5 years through the financial assistance of Rs. 25,000 crores.
It aims to improve the economic progress of MSME artisans by improving the skills of local people and increasing the reach of products.

Operation 'Madad'

The operation ‘Madad’ has been launched by the Southern naval command at kochi.
It is for assisting the state administration of Kerala and undertaking disaster relief operations due to the unprecedented flooding experienced in many parts.
Flooding in many parts is due to incessant rainfall and release of excess water from Idukki and other dams.
INHS Sanjivani has been deployed for rendering medical assistance.

SCO Peace mission

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Peace Mission Exercise is conducted biennially for SCO member states.
The joint exercise for the year 2018 will be conducted at Chebarkul, Chelyabinsk, Russia by Central Military Commission of Russia.
The upcoming peace mission is considered as a historic occasion due to participation of India after becoming a full member in 2017.
It will involve tactical level operations in an international counter insurgency or counter terrorism environment under SCO Charter.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

SCO is a Eurasian political, economic, and military organisation which was founded by the leaders of China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
India and Pakistan has recently become members of SCO in its 2017 meeting held at Astana, Kazhakhstan.
Observer status is given to Iran, Mongolia, Belarus, Afghanistan.
The official working languages of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation are Chinese and Russian.
The Council of Heads of State is the top decision-making body in the SCO.
The Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS), headquartered in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, is a permanent organ of the SCO which serves to promote cooperation of member states against terrorism, separatism and extremism.

PARIVESH

Pro-Active and Responsive facilitation by Interactive, Virtuous and Environmental Single-window Hub was recently launched by the Prime Minister of India.
It is a Single-Window Integrated Environmental Management System, launched on the occasion of World Biofuel Day.
It has been designed, developed and hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC), with technical support from National Informatics Centre, (NIC).
It has been rolled out for online submission, monitoring and management of proposals seeking various types of environment clearances from Central, State and district-level authorities.
It enables project proponents, citizens to view, track and interact with scrutiny officers, generates online mail alerts to state functionaries in case of delays beyond stipulated time for processing of applications.

Investors’ Conference for the Holistic Development of Islands

NITI Aayog, together with the Ministry of Home Affairs and the UT Administrations of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep hosted the conference.
Island Development Agency (IDA), an apex body, under the chairmanship of Union Home Minister, was constituted in June 2017.
NITI Aayog has been mandated to steer the Holistic Development of Islands program, along with the respective UT administration/ State Governments.
Under the said program in the first phase 10 Islands in Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep have been taken up for holistic development.
The IDA has listed 11 anchor tourism projects and several other infrastructure projects such as Ro-Ro ferry services, desalination plants, digital connectivity, green energy in the first phase of holistic development of these islands.

Source: PIB