29 August 2024, The Indian EXPRESS
PM: Jan Dhan has led to over 53 crore bank accounts, women being empowered
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- Describing the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana as “more than just a policy”, one that ensures “each and every citizen, irrespective of one’s economic background” has access to formal banking, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the Congress Wednesday, saying its government in the past nationalised banks in the name of the poor but they never got access to banking.
- In a post on social media platform LinkedIn, Modi said, “Today marks a decade since the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana was launched.
- For me, this initiative was more than just a policy — it was an endeavour to build an India where each and every citizen, irrespective of one’s economic background, has access to the formal banking apparatus.”
SC underlines: Bail is the rule, jail exception even in PMLA cases, Article 21 higher right
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Prelims Syllabus- Polity Current Affairs
- The Supreme Court reiterated Wednesday that the legal principle “bail is the rule and jail is the exception” will apply even in cases registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002.
- Granting bail to Prem Prakash, named as an accused by the Enforcement Directorate in a PMLA case in Jharkhand, the bench of Justices B R Gavai and K V Viswanathan referred to the Supreme Court’s ruling in the July 27, 2022 ruling in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary and Ors. Vs Union of India and Ors, upholding the constitutional validity of PMLA, and the powers of the ED under it.
To address waterlogging woes, Delhi govt plans to rope in ISRO
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GS3- Disaster Management
- The Delhi government is planning to rope in the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to address the persistent problem of waterlogging in the Capital, which brings the city to its knees during every monsoon, said officials.
- In a recently held meeting regarding waterlogging, desilting, and drainage management, Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar directed the Irrigation and Flood Control Department (I&FC) to explore the “use of ISRO’s high-resolution maps to gain access to detailed images of the drains of Delhi”.
Rs. 6k-cr multi-tracking project, 2 new Rly lines get Cabinet nod
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GS3- Infrastructure: Railways
- The Union Cabinet Wednesday approved three projects of the Ministry of Railways — two new lines and one multi-tracking project — with an estimated cost of Rs 6,456 crore.
- These projects will cover seven districts in four states — Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh — and are expected to increase the existing network of railways by 296 km.
As Himachal raises minimum age of marriage for women, why is Cong ‘surprised’
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GS1- Society and social issues
- ON TUESDAY, the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh passed a law to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years.
- The legislation, Prohibition of Child Marriage (Himachal Pradesh Amendment) Act, 2024, which amended a 2006 provision, was passed unanimously, with the opposition BJP neither supporting or opposing it, and is set to override any personal laws or customs on the issue as regards people domiciled in the state.
- A day later, Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh said she was taken by surprise at the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government’s move, given that the Congress had opposed a similar Bill by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, mainly because of its implications for the Muslim personal law.
For the underserved
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- Over the past decade, there has been a concerted attempt by the government to bring the unbanked sections of the population into the ambit of the formal financial system.
- The launch of the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana in August 2014 was a significant step towards that end.
- As per the latest data, a staggering 53.1 crore accounts have been opened under the scheme. The Jan Dhan Yojana has not only helped narrow the gap in access to the formal banking system that existed between rural and urban areas — of all the accounts opened under the scheme, around 67 per cent are in rural/semi-urban areas — but has also helped bridge the gender gap.
- Roughly 56 per cent of the new account holders are women.
- The benefits that have accrued from this scheme extend beyond the bank account.
Favourable weather helped in marginal dip in PM 2.5 pollution in 2022: Report
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GS3- Environmental pollution and degradation
- Favourable meteorological conditions, such as above-normal rainfall, contributed to a dip in particulate pollution (PM2.5) in India between 2021 and 2022, thus adding one year to India’s average life expectancy, according to a new study by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago (EPIC).
- It also underlined that meeting the World Health Organization (WHO)’s pollution guidelines would increase Delhi residents’ life expectancy by 7.8 years.
Himachal Bill raises women’s marriage age: what happens next?
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GS1- Society and social issues
- The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday (August 27) passed a Bill to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years.
- The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Himachal Pradesh Amendment) Bill, 2024, was passed by voice vote.
- The Bill amended the Prohibition of Child Marriage (PCM) Act, which was passed by Parliament in 2006.
- What amendments has the Bill introduced to the PCM Act? How will the Bill’s amendments to a central law come into force?
10 years of Jan Dhan
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- As the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) completed 10 years on Wednesday (August 28), Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the “momentous” achievement of the scheme that has been “paramount in boosting financial inclusion and giving dignity to crores of people, especially women, youth, and the marginalised communities”.
- The PMJDY was launched on August 28, 2014, as a national mission for financial inclusion.
- Over the last decade, 53.13 crore Jan Dhan accounts have been opened, with 29.56 crore women beneficiaries, more than the population of the European Union, and almost the same as the population of the United States respectively, the government said.
How ISRO designed humanoid skull which will be used in Gaganyaan
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GS3- Awareness in the field of Space
- The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO’s) uncrewed Gaganyaan mission in 2025 will carry the female half humanoid Vyomitra (literally “space friend”).
- The design for Vyomitra’s skull, fashioned by ISRO’s Inertial Systems Unit in the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, was finalised recently.
- Humanoids (or half-humanoids) are robotic systems designed to resemble humans — Vyomitra comes with movable arms, a torso, a face, and a neck — and function autonomously in space.
Cabinet approves 12 industrial smart cities to spur investments; outlay Rs. 28,602 crore
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GS3- Industrial Infrastructure
- The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved 12 “industrial smart cities” in 10 states to boost domestic manufacturing with an estimated investment of Rs 28,602 crore.
- The chosen cities for the industrial projects are Khurpia in Uttarakhand, Rajpura-Patiala in Punjab, Dighi in Maharashtra, Palakkad in Kerala, Agra and Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh, Gaya in Bihar, Zaheerabad in Telangana, Orvakal and Kopparthy in Andhra Pradesh, and Jodhpur-Pali in Rajasthan.
- These projects, designed to attract foreign direct investment from countries such as Singapore and Switzerland, aim to foster an industrial ecosystem by facilitating investments from both large anchor industries and micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said at a press briefing.
Focusing on making UPI, RuPay truly global: Das
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GS3- Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization, of resources, growth, development and employment
- Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Shaktikanta Das on Wednesday said the central bank is focusing on making Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and RuPay, the card payments network of the country, “truly global”.
- “The deployment of UPI-like infrastructure in foreign jurisdictions, facilitating QR (quick-response) code-based payment acceptance through UPI apps at international merchant locations, and interlinking UPI with Fast Payment Systems (FPS) of other countries for crossborder remittances are on top of our agenda,” Das said at the Global Fintech Festival.
