The Pradhan Mantri Dakshata Aur Kushalata Sampanna Hitgrahi (PM-DAKSH) Yojana

• PM-DAKSH (Pradhan Mantri Dakshta Aur Kushalta Sampann Hitgrahi) Yojana was launched by the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment (MoSJ&E) in 2020-21 as part of a National Action Plan for skilling of marginalized persons.
• It is a Central Sector Scheme.
• The Yojana covers SCs, OBCs, EBCs, DNTs, Sanitation workers including waste pickers.
• The main objective of the Scheme is to enhance competency level of the target groups to make them employable both in self- employment and wage-employment for their socio-economic development.
• There are 4 types of skill development training programmes under PM-DAKSH Yojanaviz:
  1. Up-skilling/Re-skilling
  2. Short Term Training Programmes
  3. Long Term Training Programmes
  4. Entrepreneurship Development Programme
• The Training is free of cost for the trainees and 100% grants is provided by Government.
• Stipend of Rs.1, 000 to Rs.1, 500 per month per trainee for trainees having 80% and above attendance in short term and long term training.
• Wage compensation is provided at Rs.3000 per trainee (Rs. 2500 as per PM-DAKSH and Rs.500 as per Common Cost Norms for trainees having 80% and above attendance in Reskilling/Up-skilling.
• Trained candidates will be provided certification after successful completion of training and assessment.
• Trained candidates will be provided placement after assessment and certification.
• Eligibility:
• Candidates of age group 18-45 years belonging to any of the following categories can apply for the training programme under PM-DAKSH :
  • Persons belonging to Scheduled Castes - No annual income limit,
  • Other Backward Classes (OBCs) having Annual Family Income below Rs. 3.00 lakh,
  • Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) having Annual Family Income below Rs.1.00 lakh,
  • De-Notified, Nomadic and Semi-Nomadic Tribe (DNT) - No annual income limit and
  • SafaiKaramcharis - No annual income limit.

Gujarat Declaration

World Health Organization (WHO) has recently released the outcome document of first WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit 2023 in form of “Gujarat Declaration”

• The declaration reaffirmed global commitments towards indigenous knowledge, biodiversity and traditional complementary and integrative medicine.
• Gujarat declaration talks about scaling up efforts to further implement:
  • Evidence-based TCIM (Traditional complimentary integrative medicine) interventions,
  • Approaches in support of the goal of universal health coverage (UHC) and
  • All health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• It states the role of multi-regional, multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder collaborations demonstrated at the Global Summit.
• It is aligned with and complementary to the work of WHO major offices, to maximize evidence based benefits of TCIM in global health.
• It also strives enable the artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, to advance digital health resources on TCIM for people’s health and well-being.
• The 1st global summit on Traditional Medicine was organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) and co-hosted by the Ministry of Ayush at Gandhinagar, Gujarat in august 2023.

Adopt a Heritage 2.0 programme

Recently Adopt a Heritage 2.0 programme was launched by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

• The ‘Adopt a Heritage 2.0’ programme seeks to foster collaboration with corporate stakeholders through which they can contribute in preserving these monuments for our upcoming generations.
• The selected stakeholders will develop, provide and maintain amenities in hygiene, accessibility, safety and knowledge categories.
• It is a revamped version of the earlier scheme launched in 2017 and clearly defines the amenities sought for different monuments as per AMASR Act 1958.
• AMASR Act 1958 - Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Rules Act 1959.
• The programme encourages corporate stakeholders to utilise their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to enhance facilities at historically-important monuments.
• The stakeholders can apply for adopting a monument or specific amenities at a monument through a dedicated web portal.
• A mobile app, named ‘Indian Heritage’ was also launched along this programme, which will showcase the heritage monuments of India.
• The app will feature state-wise details of monuments along with photographs, list of public amenities available, geo-tagged location and feedback mechanism for citizens.

Ecocide

The Mexico’s Maya train project that has been described as a “megaproject of death” as it imperils the Yucatán peninsula’s rich wilderness, ancient cave systems and indigenous communities

• The term ‘Ecocide’ translates to ‘killing one’s home’ or ‘environment’.
• Such ‘killing’ could include port expansion projects that destroy fragile marine life and local livelihoods, deforestation, illegal sand mining, polluting rivers with untreated sewage.
• Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court deals with 4 atrocities:
  1. Genocide
  2. Crimes against humanity
  3. War crimes
  4. Crime of aggression
• The provision on war crimes is the only statute that can hold a perpetrator responsible for environmental damage, although if it is intentionally caused and during wartime situations.
• There is no accepted legal definition of ecocide.
• Ecocide is a crime in 11 countries which doesn’t include India.

Mera Bill, Mera Adhikar scheme

• The scheme aims to encourage the culture of consumers seeking bills for services and commodities that they purchase and avail of, the central government’s invoice promotion scheme.
• The objective of this scheme is to bring a radical change in the behaviour of the general public, so that they start considering it their right and entitlement to “demand bills” from all the vendors.
• This scheme will encourage the culture of generating GST bills and will benefit all stakeholders in the ecosystem.
• Under this programme, all bills issued to the consumers in the respective states and Union Territories will be eligible to participate in this scheme.
• The purpose of this scheme was to boost GST awareness among consumers, who shall be motivated to seek bills and ensure that these transactions are part of the GST system.
• The GST taxation system was launched in 2016.
• The scheme is launched by Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs.
• This scheme is launched on a pilot basis in 3 states and 3 Union Territories.
• This scheme is expected to be implemented across India on the basis of the outcomes and learnings from this pilot scheme.
• The minimum value of an invoice to be considered for the lucky draw has been kept at Rs200.
• Invoices can be uploaded through mobile application ‘Mera Bill Mera Adhikar’ available on iOS and Android as well as web portal.