Rapid Fire
Rapid Fire Current Affairs
- 14 Feb 2023
- 5 min read
World Radio Day
The Prime Minister of India greeted radio listeners and others associated with the broadcasting medium on ‘World Radio Day’.
It is celebrated on 13th February, every year. The theme for this year is “Radio and Peace”.
On 3rd November, 2011, the 36th session of UNESCO declared World Radio Day to be celebrated on 13th February, as UN Radio was established by the United Nations on 13th February, 1946. The day was later adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2012 as an International Day.
The day is observed every year to raise awareness among the public and the media about the importance of radio and to encourage access to information through radio.
India has around 479 radio stations making All India Radio one of the biggest broadcasters in the world. It covers around 99.19% of the Indian population.
Read More: Community Radio.
Khanan Prahari Mobile App
The Government of India has launched one mobile app namely “KhananPrahari” and one web app Coal Mine Surveillance and Management System (CMSMS) for reporting unauthorized coal mining activities.
The mobile app is developed by Ministry of Coal that enables citizens to report incidents of illegal coal mining using geo-tagged photos and textual information from the location of the incident.
Statutory measures taken in this regard include: Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act, 1973, Mineral Concession Rules, 1960, Colliery Control Rules, 2004, Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act, 1957.
Further, concrete walls have been erected on the mouth of the abandoned mines to prevent access and illegal activities in these areas. Also, existing security/CISF personnel are being trained and Committees/task forces have been formed at different levels in some subsidiaries of CIL (Coal India Ltd.) to monitor different aspects of illegal mining.
Read More: Coal sector in India.
APEDA completes 37 years of its journey
The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), which was established in 1986 through an Act of Parliament works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. It is mandated with export promotion of agricultural commodities. Additionally, APEDA has been entrusted with the responsibility to monitor import of sugar.
In line with ideas of ‘vocal for local’ and ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’, APEDA has been focusing on promotion of exports of locally sourced GI (Geographical Indications) tagged as well as indigenous, ethnic agricultural products.
India has become the world's eighth-largest exporter of agricultural products, with exports worth USD 24.77 billion in the 2021-22, based on WTO trade data.
Some of the recent initiatives of APEDA include Farmer Connect Portal, Varanasi Agri – Export Hub (VAEH); Millets Portal for promotion of millets, etc.
Read More: APEDA.
Nirman Se Shakti Initiative
Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) presented an initiative named as ‘Nirman Se Shakti’ to modernize infrastructure.
The ‘Nirman Se Shakti’ initiative includes upgradation/modernization of ESI Scheme (ESIS) hospitals and dispensaries in a phased manner, formulation of standard design for 100/200/500 bedded hospitals with better modern facilities, online real-time dashboard for project monitoring/supervision, adoption of new building technologies to ensure quality of construction, elimination of delays, cost overrun, digitalization of land/property documents etc.
The Employees' State Insurance Scheme (ESI) is an integrated measure of social Insurance for worker population and immediate dependent or family embodied in the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948.
Read More: ESIC.
