State PCS

• 24 Oct 2023

Lucknow Got First Place in Khelo India Women's Judo League

Why In News?

According to the information received from the media on October 23, 2023, Lucknow won 12 gold, 5 silver and 22 bronze medals in the Khelo India Women's Judo League.

Key Points:

• The league played in sub-junior, cadet, junior and senior categories at Indian Para Judo Academy, Halwasiya Court, Hazratganj, Barabanki stood second with 9 gold, 11 silver and 9 bronze medals.
• In the sub-junior category, Tika Bali of Bal Sadan, Nishtha of MD Club etc. won gold medals.
• Apart from Lucknow, more than 100 girls from Hardoi, Barabanki and Lakhimpur Kheri districts participated in this league.
• Additional Chief Secretary, Energy and Non-Conventional Energy Mahesh Kumar Gupta distributed the awards at the closing ceremony.

17 Personalities from Bihar Received Bihar Kesari Award

Why In News?

On October 22, 2023, on the birth anniversary of the first Chief Minister of Bihar and freedom fighter Dr. Sri Krishna Singh, 17 eminent personalities of the state were awarded the Bihar Kesari Samman at a ceremony held at BIA auditorium.

Key Points:

• The award ceremony was organized by Bihar Intellectual Forum and Medieval Foundation at BIA auditorium.
• Bihar Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar felicitated these eminent personalities of the state for their hard work and distinguished service spirit in medicine, service, education, social service and politics.
• Personalities who have been awarded the Kesari Award-
  • Folk singer Padma Bhushan Sharda Sinha, Padmashri Dr. Shanti Rai, Padmashri Dr. Vijay Prakash, Padmashri Sudha Varghese, Khan Sir, Dr. Ajay Kumar, Dr. Satyajit Singh, KPS Kesari, Dr. Sahajanand Singh, Vipin Singh, Dr. Arjun Singh, Dr. Vimal Karkar, Dr. Amulya Singh, O.P. Agarwal, Dr. S.N. Sinha, N. Agarwal and Dr. Gurudev.

Chief Electoral Officer Launches “Sahaj Bhilwara” App

Why In News?

On October 23, 2023, ‘Sahaj Bhilwara’ app, developed as an innovation of Bhilwara District Election Officer, was launched by Rajasthan Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta.

Key Points:

• Through this app, the participation of the elderly in the age group of more than 80 years and more than 40 percent disabled category voters will be increased, and supervision of the voting process will be facilitated.
• Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta said during the app launch that the Election Commission of India, New Delhi is providing the facility of voting through postal ballot to senior citizens, especially abled people, Covid affected voters to ensure maximum voting in Rajasthan Assembly General Election 2023.
• Regarding the IT-based 'Sahaj Bhilwara' app developed for monitoring and effective supervision of the entire process related to home voting in Bhilwara district, he said that through this app, it will help in ensuring 100 percent participation of absentee voters of senior citizen and special eligible categories in Rajasthan Assembly General Elections 2023.
• This app will prove to be helpful for all the employees and officers related to the election like BLO, PO, RO etc. in the successful execution of their responsibilities.
• According to the instructions of the Election Commission of India, to make the election process smooth and simple, for the first time in the assembly general elections in the state, the initiative of home voting has been taken for senior citizens above 80 years of age and special eligible voters of more than 40 percent disabled category of the district.
• In these elections, eligible voters will get this facility as an option to go to the polling station and vote. As part of the innovation in Bhilwara district, this app will facilitate the supervision of the voting process by increasing the participation of the elderly in the age group of more than 80 years and voters with more than 40 percent disability.
• 'Sahaj Bhilwara' app has been launched as an innovation in Bhilwara district to facilitate and simplify the supervision of the voting process through Form 12D during the Assembly general elections.
• Features of 'Sahaj Bhilwara' App:
• Sahaj Bhilwara App is an IT application developed to help in better monitoring of 'home voting' for AVSC and AVPD voters.
• It will help the Returning Officer to fill out Form 12D, real-time monitoring of voting.
• For absentee voters, three separate logins have been provided for returning officer, polling officer and booth level officer involved in the entire process of voting.
• This application will not replace the process already being done by the Returning Officer, Polling Officer and Booth Level Officer at their level, but will facilitate the Returning Officer in monitoring the entire process.
• This application will help the Returning Officer to make a better action plan and it will also make the schedule and deployment of polling parties easier.
• The app also includes the facility to inform eligible 80+ elderly and differently abled voters about the date and time of voting through SMS. This will keep the voter aware when the polling party will come to their house for the voting process.
• At the level of BLO login, features like Form 12D details entry, filled in Form 12D along with voter's photograph, benchmark disability certificate, GPS location etc. have been included in the application.
• At the PO login level, polling party personnel can reach the voter's home using the GPS location facility provided in the app to reach the house of the absentee concerned voter and update the voting status on the Sahaj app.

Mahendragarh District Ranks First in Ayushman Bharat Chirayu Haryana Scheme.

Why In News?

On October 22, 2023, District Information Manager of Chirayu Haryana Yojana Umesh Saini informed that Mahendragarh district ranks first in the state in providing health services to the citizens under Ayushman Bharat Chirayu Haryana Scheme.

Key Points:

• It may be noted that last month a team of IIM Rohtak visited District Mahendragarh health facilities and empaneled hospitals of Ayushman Bharat Chirayu Haryana Scheme and District Mahendragarh health facilities have been ranked first in their survey.
• District Information Manager Umesh Saini said that a review meeting of Ayushman Bharat Chirayu Haryana Yojana related to primary health center penalization and patient registration in transaction management system (TMS) was held in all the government facilities of all the districts of the state.
• To give the benefit of this scheme to more and more citizens of the state, the Haryana Government has launched the portal for the expansion of Chirayu Ayushman Bharat Yojana. Now families with an annual income of Rs 1.80 lakh to Rs 3 lakh in the state will get the benefit of this scheme.
• The Haryana government has already included families with an annual income of up to Rs 1.80 lakh under the Chirayu Ayushman Bharat Yojana. These families can get free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh in government or panel private hospitals.
• Under the Chirayu Ayushman Bharat Scheme, families with an annual income of up to Rs 1.80 lakh do not have to pay any kind to join the scheme.
• The Haryana government has now expanded it to include families with an income of up to Rs 3 lakh under the scheme. The beneficiary will have to pay Rs 1500 on Chirayu Ayushman Haryana.in to register.
• So far, 1763 families have registered themselves after the implementation of extended Chirayu Haryana in Mahendragarh district. Under this scheme, 346192 citizens have made their Ayushman Chirayu card so far. So far this year, more than 22,000 beneficiaries have availed free treatment worth more than Rs 30 crore in various empaneled private hospitals and government hospitals.

Separate Project Monitoring unit will be Formed for 'Abua Awas Yojana'

Why In News?

On October 23, 2023, the state government announced the formation of a separate Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) under the 'Abua Awas Yojana' to carry out the responsibility of providing housing to the people and performing the work.

Key Points:

• The PMU will have responsibilities ranging from selection of beneficiaries to appointment of contract workers and social audit.
• Eight lakh houses are to be constructed by the year 2026. The new three-room house will be constructed at a cost of Rs 2 lakh, and the amount will be available to the beneficiaries through the state government.
• For this, 100 percent financial assistance will be provided by the state government for the construction of 331 square meters. According to the target, the amount under this scheme will be provided in the annual budget of the Rural Development Department, Government of Jharkhand.
• At the state level, 2% of the programme funds will be available for the administrative operation of the scheme at the state level and this amount will be allocated to the districts based on demand and utilization.
• Implementation, supervision and monitoring of the scheme through IT (hardware and software) and communication systems, office expenses, contingency expenses/expenses etc. Data entry etc. will also be done through PMU.
• In addition, the expenditure for establishment and operation of PMUs, including appointment of personnel on contract with admissible benefits such as insurance, EPF, medical insurance, etc. The cost of training and certification of masons and other necessary training expenses will also be incurred through PMU.
• Apart from this, along with conducting information, education and communication activities, distribution of awards, review meetings, workshops etc. will also be organized by the PMU.
• From gram panchayat to block development officer's office, the responsibility of wall writing of the list of primary beneficiaries, wall writing of the list of trained masons etc. is the responsibility of the PMU.
• Along with this, honorarium to cluster resource persons and service charges to NGOs will also be paid through PMUs.

National Boxing Competition organized in Malsi (Dehradun)

Why In News?

According to information received from the media on October 23, 2023, a punch boxing competition was organized for the first time in Malsi (Dehradun) of Uttarakhand.

Key Points:

• The competition will be held at Foothill Garden, Malsi (Dehradun) from October 28.
• The competition is being organized under the banner of the National Boxing Council.
• 20 nationally and internationally renowned boxers will participate in this competition, including boxers Vikas Yadav, Pawan Kumar, Kamla Roka, Nandani Pal, Arun Fartyal, Rohan Rameshwar, Ritesh Singh, Mohammad Javed, Kunal Rajput, Chandu ji, Mohd Azhar, Priyaranjan. Nayak, Rakesh Lohchav, Akshay Chahal, Satnam Singh, Mohit, Saksham Thakur, Jaskiran Singh, Akilan Annadurai and Arun Sharma will participate.