Current Affairs 1st December 2017

Current Affairs 1st December 2017 - Important Points

• A report on one year of  - Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin 
• Detailed guidelines on recall of food products issued by - FSSAI
• Niti Aayog to set up special cell for women entrepreneurs, declared on - 30th November 2017
•  World AIDS day 2017 observed across the world on - 1st December 2017

Current Affairs 1st December 2017 - Details

A report on one year of - Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana- Gramin 

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana-Gramin, under which an aim of completing 1 crore new houses by 31st March 2019 was formed, was inaugurated on November 20, 2016 from Agra. Of this aim, 51 lakh houses are to be finished by March 31st, 2018.
To complete the target of 51 lakh houses under Pradhan Mantri Gramin Awaas Yojana by March 2018, the Ministry of Rural Development, in collaboration with the State Governments, has taken various steps, including setting a monthly target for houses finishing.

Steps Taken

• To construct the quality houses at a desired time, the plan has been helped by paying directly into the beneficiary account via IT-DBT platform.
• Rural Mason Trainings have been planned to facilitate the availability of trained masons in the rural areas to make surety of good quality of construction.
• IT platforms and Space technology are being utilized to monitor whole cycle of house construction, right from identification of beneficiary to building stages of houses to accomplishment and each stage is being geo-tagged.
• States have taken sufficient steps to ensure continuous availability of building material at fair-minded prices so that the speed and quality of construction are not adversely affected.

Work in Progress

• Under the PMAY-G, the aim for completion of 10 lakh houses by November 2017 has been attained on 29th November 2017, i.e. earlier than the set date for completion of 10 lakh houses.
• It is believed that the target for completing 1 crore new houses by 31st March 2019 can be attained as next target to build 15 lakh houses will be completed by 31 December 2017; 25 lakh houses by 31st January, 2018; 35 lakh houses by 28th February, 2018 and 51 lakh houses by 31st March, 2018 respectively.

Detailed guidelines on recall of food products issued by - FSSAI

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India- FSSAI, Food safety regulator, talked to the companies to frame an adequate plan to recall food products from markets if found unsafe. It also told the companies to notify the authority about the same.
The FSSAI delivered the guidelines on recalling of food products. The motive of these guidelines is to help food business operators outline a proper recall plan and impose them when the required.
The food business operators shall present their detailed recall plan to the FSSAI at the time of recall being carried out. FBOs need to set up a recall management group, notify the regulator, identify all products to be recalled, detain and separate products to be recalled which are in the company’s control except verifying the effectiveness of the recall.

Food recalls

• Food recalls are the accurate method for correcting marketed food products and their labeling that violate the laws administered by the intended authority.
• Recall of food product is to withdraw or accurate food products from the market during any stage of the food chain, including that possessed by the buyers, which may pose a threat to the public health or food that breach the Act, or the rules or regulations made there-under.

Food recalls Guidelines-

• The recovered product, via this process, must be placed in an area which is placed away from any other food product. Right records are to be kept about the amount of recuperated product and the batch codes of the product recuperated.
• After recovery, products may be re-processed before sending to the market if it is fit for human use or the product will be demolished.
• The action to be taken on the taken-back food product should be allowed by the competent Authority.
• The companies, which have manufactured or processed unsafe products, should take actions so that the need for such recalls does not happen again in future.

More about FSSAI

• FSSAI releases science-based standards for food products and control their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to make sure availability of safe and healthy food to 130 crore residents of the Nation.
• The authority is also accountable for creating an information network across the nation so that the public, users, etc receive quick, trusted and right information about food safety and hygiene and concerned issues.

Niti Aayog to set up special cell for women entrepreneurs, declared on - 30th November 2017

Niti Aayog has declared that it would be setting up women's cell to support women entrepreneurs.
The declaration was done by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant along with Telangana IT Minister K Taraka Ramarao during the finalization of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad on 30th November 2017. Talking on the occasion, Kant told that the centre will extend help to women start-ups and entrepreneurs.

Key Highlights

• The cell will be handholding women entrepreneurs on issues such as financing and intellectual properties.
• It will act as a catalyst and facilitator for women start-ups that are applicable and bankable.
• It will also minutely work with the Telangana State Government’s T-hub.
• Atal Tinkering labs will be specially structured at schools that women own to encourage innovation and instill entrepreneurship among women at starting stage under the Atal Innovation Mission.
• The nominated schools will be provided with robots and 3D printers.
• Besides this, the Telangana state government also announced a series of measures to encourage women entrepreneurship in the state:
• The Telangana State government has declared setting up of a separate We-Hub, Women Entrepreneurs Hub, to support their startups on the lines of T-Hub, which is the nation’s largest technology incubator. The Atal Innovation Mission would associate with the state government for the WE-Hub.
• The state’s government has also declared setting up of a Technology Fund with a corpus of Rs 15 crore especially for women entrepreneurs. The women entrepreneurs would be able to get Rs 25 lakh to Rs 1 crore under the fund.
• Under the state’s procurement policy, the women entrepreneurs will now get one-fourth part in 20% of total procurements made by the government from the private area, mostly SMEs.
• The recently finished Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2017 gave special emphasis on women entrepreneurs. It also took the problem of inadequate funding for women, after which it was determined to set up the facility to help women start-ups.

 World AIDS day 2017 observed across the world on - 1st December 2017

The World AIDS day was noticed across the world on 1st December 2017 with the theme 'My health, my right'.
This year, the United Nations also inaugurated a campaign #myrighttohealth with the main objective on the right to health. The crusade along with this year's theme focuses spread awareness about 'Right To Health' of everyone, everywhere. And, right to health is related to a wider set of rights.
AIDS is a severe public health threat and this threat can only be overcome if these rights are situated at the centre of global health to provide quality health to everyone leaving no one.

Global HIV/AIDS Statistics of the year 2016

• More than 20 million people were accessing Antiretroviral Therapy in the year 2016.
• 30.8 million-42.9 million people globally were residing with HIV.
• 1.8 million People  freshly infected with HIV virus.
• Millions of people died due to AIDS-related illnesses.
• The idea to notice World Aids Day was originated in 1987 by James Bunn and Thomas Netter, who are the public information officers for the Global Program on Aids at the World Health Organization.
• In year 1996, the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) became working and took over the planning and advertisement of World AIDS Day. The 1st World AIDS Day was organized in 1988 and was the 1st ever global health day.