August 14th Current Affairs

1. Vehicle Scrappage Policy

IN NEWS:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Vehicle Scrappage Policy in India on Friday, 13 August, at the Gujarat Investor Summit and requested youths and start-ups to join the programme.

KEY POINTS:

• Personal vehicles older than 20 years and commercial vehicles older than 15 years will have to undergo a fitness test at government registered ‘automated fitness centres’.
• Vehicles that fail to pass the test will be declared as ‘end-of-life vehicles’ meaning that they would have to be recycled. Thus, paving the way for older vehicles to be scrapped.
• In case, the vehicles pass the test, the owners will have to pay a hefty fee for re-registration that would be hiked to around eight times for personal vehicles, and around 20 times for commercial vehicles.
• The policy is a “waste-to-wealth mission and an important part of the circular economy that will reduce pollution in our cities and also reflect the government’s commitment towards rapid development.
• The policy will also bring investments worth more than Rs 10,000 crore and, in the process, create employment opportunities for thousands of youngsters.

SOURCE:PIB

2. Four more Indian wetlands added to Ramsar list.

IN NEWS:

Four more wetlands from India have been added to the Ramsar list and have been recognized as wetlands of global importance in accordance with the Ramsar Convention.

KEY POINTS:

• India is home to more than a dozen of threatened and near threatened bird species.
• Four sites that have been included are:
• Thol from Gujarat
• Wadhwana from Gujarat,
• Sultanpur from Haryana and
• Bhindawas from Haryana.
• These sites are home to endangered Egyptian Vulture, Sociable Lapwing, Saker Falcon, and near threatened Dalmatian Pelican.
• Number of Ramsar Sites in India
• With the latest addition, the number of Ramsar sites in India have reached to 46. These 46 sites cover a surface area of 1,083,322 hectares.
• Ramsar list was created with the aim of developing and maintaining an international network of wetlands which are important to conserve global biological diversity and to sustaining human life by maintaining their ecosystem components, processes and benefits.

Important Information:

Bhindawas Wildlife Sanctuary

It is the largest wetland in Haryana. This human-made freshwater wetland comprises of more than 250 bird species. The bird species use the sanctuary throughout the year for resting and roosting. It also supports more than ten globally threatened species such as Steppe Eagle, endangered Egyptian Vulture, Black-bellied Tern and Pallas’s Fish Eagle.

Sultanpur National Park

This Park from Haryana provides support to more than 220 species of resident, winter migratory and local migratory waterbirds.

Thol Lake Wildlife Sanctuary

It lies on Central Asian Flyway in Gujarat. It supports more than 320 bird species and more than 30 threatened waterbird species like critically endangered white-rumped vulture, Sociable Lapwing, Common Pochard etc.

Wadhwana Wetland

It is an internationally important wetland situated in Gujarat. It is famous for its birdlife because it provides wintering ground to migratory waterbirds, migrating on Central Asian Flyway. Some of the species include endangered Pallas’s fish-Eagle, vulnerable Common Pochard, and near-threatened Dalmatian Pelican.

SOURCE:TH

3.AB-PMJAY and COVID treatment

IN NEWS:

• Under the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY), the Union government’s health insurance scheme, approximately 20.32 la7kh COVID-19 tests and 7.08 lakh treatments were authorised from April 2020 to July 2021.
• The cover allowed beneficiaries to avail free testing and treatment across all empanelled hospitals — both public and private.
• Besides this, State governments were provided with the flexibility of modifying the Ayushman packages as per the local requirements.

KEY POINTS:

About Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY)

• This scheme is a Centrally sponsored scheme with some Central sector components.
• PMJAY offers a sum insured of 5 lakh per family for secondary care (which doesn’t involve a super specialist) as well as tertiary care.  For the beneficiaries, this is a free scheme.
• It is an entitlement-based scheme that targets the beneficiaries as identified by latest Socio-Economic Caste Census (SECC) data.
• Individuals can walk into any empanelled hospital that can process cashless payments.
• Once identified by the database, the beneficiary is considered insured.
• The insurance cost is shared by the centre and the state mostly in the ratio of 60:40.
• There are about 1,400 packaged rates for various medical procedures under the scheme.
• These packaged rates also mention the number of average days of hospitalization for a medical procedure and supporting documents that are needed.
• Under no circumstances can hospitals charge the beneficiary. The scheme also has prescribed a daily limit for medical management.
• National Health Agency has been constituted as an autonomous entity under the Society Registration Act, 1860 for effective implementation of PMJAY in alliance with state governments.
• This includes formulation of PMJAY policies, development of operational guidelines, implementation mechanisms, coordination with state governments, monitoring and oversight of PMJAY amongst others.

SOURCE:TH

4. Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021.

IN NEWS:

Environment Ministry notified the Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021 on August 13, 2021.

KEY POINTS:

• These new rules prohibit specific single-use plastic items with “low utility and high littering potential by the year 2022.
• Under it, manufacture of a range of plastic products will be banned.
• These plastic products comprise of ear buds with plastic sticks, plastic sticks for balloons, candy sticks, plastic flags, ice-cream sticks, thermocol for decoration, cups plates, cups, glasses as well as cutlery like knives, spoons, forks, trays, straws, wrapping or packing films, invitation cards and cigarette packets as well as PVC banners of less than 100 microns
• Earlier in July 2021, the environment ministry noted in Rajya Sabha that, plastic packaging waste isn’t yet covered under phase-out of single-use plastic items. Ministry noted that, phase out some categories of single use plastic will be done by 2022.

Important Information:

Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016

• Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016, prohibits manufacture, import, stocking, sale, distribution and use of carry bags and plastic sheets with thickness less than 50 microns in India.
• It also bans the sachets using plastic material used to store, pack or sell gutkha, tobacco and pan masala.
• To amend these rules, draft comprising of way forward was issued in March 2021.
• Following this, Ministry constituted a National Level Taskforce to take coordinated efforts in order to eliminate identified single use plastic items and effective implementation of the 2016 Rules.

SOURCE:IE