Current Affairs Questions

Explanation :

Context: Foodtech major Swiggy has signed an MoU with the Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs or MoHUA to bring India’s street food vendors on to its online platform.

Explanation:

About PM SVANidhi Scheme

• It is a special micro-credit facility plan to provide affordable loan to more than 50 lakh street vendors, who had their businesses operational on or before 24 March 2020.
• The scheme is valid until March 2022.
• The scheme is applicable to vendors, hawkers, thelewalas, rehriwalas, theliphadwalas in different areas/contexts who supply goods and services.
• Street vendors belonging to the surrounding peri-urban/rural areas are also included.
• Small Industries Development Bank of India(SIDBI) is the technical partner for implementation of this scheme.
• It will manage the credit guarantee to the lending institutions through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises.
• Under the scheme, vendors can avail working capital loan of up to ₹10,000, which is repayable in monthly instalments within one year.
• On timely/early repayment of the loan, an interest subsidy of 7% per annum will be credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) on six-months basis.
• There will be no penalty on early repayment of loan.

Explanation :

• The Kerala government is carrying out a unique programme called “Namath Basai” of teaching tribal children in their mother tongue.
• The programme, implemented by the SamagraSiksha Kerala (SSK), has succeeded in retaining hundreds of tribal children in their online classes by making them feel at home with the language of instruction.
• It offers pre-recorded classes through a YouTube channel in three tribal languages in Attappady valley in Palakkad District Kerala.
• These languages are Irula, Muduka and Kurumba.
• Namath Basai is being introduced in the tribal belts of Wayanad and Idukki as well. Classes are offered in the Oorali, Mutuvan and Paniya languages in Idukki.

Explanation :

• Launched in March 2019, Going Online as Leaders (GOAL) is a Facebook program in association with Union Ministry of Tribal Affair.
• It is a digitally enabled mentorship initiative that links young tribal women with successful urban women.

Aim

• It aims at inspiring, guiding and encouraging tribal girls from across India to become village-level digital young leaders for their communities.

• The initiative will train young girls from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh in digital literacy, life skills, leadership and entrepreneurship for a year.
• It will see on-ground trainers impart digital literacy to the identified girls through a dedicated digital skilling curriculum. Also, a set of 25 women leaders would mentor them via Facebook or WhatsApp on a fortnightly basis.

Explanation :

• Van Dhan Scheme was launched by the Prime Minister of India on 14^th April, 2018.
• The scheme is being implemented through Ministry of Tribal Affairs as Nodal Department at the Central Level and TRIFED as Nodal Agency at the National Level

Objectives

• To help increase tribal income through Value Addition. Putting stress on the important role of value addition in escalating tribal incomes.
• To promote Minor Forest Produce (MFP)-centric livelihood development of tribal gatherers and artisans.

Explanation :

• PMMVY is a direct benefit transfer scheme under which cash benefits are provided to pregnant women in their bank account directly to meet enhanced nutritional needs and partially compensate for wage loss.
• All the pregnant women and lactating mothers, who have their pregnancy on or after 1^st January 2017, are eligible for the scheme.
• A cash benefit of Rs. 5,000 in three installments on fulfilling the respective conditionality, viz. early registration of pregnancy, ante-natal check-up and registration of the birth of the child and completion of first cycle of vaccination for the first living child of the family.
• The eligible beneficiaries also receive cash incentive under JananiSurakshaYojana (JSY). Thus, on an average, a woman gets Rs 6,000.
• Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Rajasthan are the top five States/UT in the country in implementation of PMMVY.

Explanation :

• It grants legal rights to tribals and other forest dwelling communities.
• Ownership rights cannot be granted to new land of the forest areas of tribals.