08-07-23 Daily-Punjab-PPSC Current Affairs

Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Dr Baljit Kaur instructed all District Social Security Officers in the state to collect income documents from original old-age pension beneficiaries within 15 days to ensure that the pension benefits are provided exclusively to those who are genuinely in need and eligible.

The Minister said that during pension-related actions taken, it was discovered that out of the J Form holders, 63,424 individuals are receiving old-age pension from the Department despite having an annual income exceeding Rs 60,000. However, for old-age pension, the beneficiarys annual income should not exceed Rs 60,000.

The Minister emphasized that the Punjab government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is dedicated to creating a Corruption-free state.

Many pensioners in the Department are farmers. The Punjab State Mandi Board issues J Forms to farmers, providing information about their income from crop sales. To accurately determine their annual income, the Department compared the data with that of the Punjab State Mandi Board, she added.

The Minister highlighted that as per the policy, pension benefits should only be granted to individuals who genuinely need and meet the specified conditions. Once the department identifies such individuals, the Minister has instructed district officials to issue a 15-day notice to the concerned persons. Within 15 days of receiving the notice, beneficiaries should submit their income documents, such as income certificates or other necessary paperwork, to the District Social Security Officer’s office in their district.

The Minister further stated that a survey of old-age pension beneficiaries was conducted by the department through Anganwadi workers in Punjab in July 2022, which resulted in the identification of 90,248 deceased beneficiaries.

Prisoners in India are five times more at risk of developing Tuberculosis (TB) than the general Population, a first-of-its-kind study to assess prevalence of the communicable disease in prisons across the world has revealed.

According to the study, published in TheLancet Public Health, the incidence of TB in Indian prisons is 1,076 cases per 100,000 persons in prisons. In general population, TB incidence is 210 per 100,000 population, according to WHO TB report 2022.

A study published in theInternational Journal of Infectious Diseasesin 2017, in which researchers examined the availability of TB Services in countrys prisons, revealed diagnostic and treatment services for TB were available in 18% and 54% of the prisons respectively. Only half of the prisons screened inmates for TB on entry, while nearly 60% practised periodic screening of inmates, the study found.

In the latest study, which looked at the incidence of TB among prisoners in 193 out of 195 countries researchers found approximately 125,105 of the 11 million people incarcerated globally developed TB in 2019 a rate of 1,148 cases per 100,000 people per year; significantly higher than the global incidence rate among all persons 127 cases per 100,000 people per year.

With Isro’s most powerful rocket LVM-3 carrying the Chandrayaan-3 module on its tip standing tall on the launchpad inSriharikotaand the lunarcraft raring to begin itsMoonjourney next Friday, India is on the cusp of “becoming the fourth country after the US,Russiaand China to land on the Moon”, space ministerJitendra Singhsaid.

“After a quantum rise in our space expertise, India can no longer wait to be left behind in its march to the Moon,” he said.

After landing on Moon, the space minister said, the Chandrayaan-3 rover with six wheels will come out of the lander and is expected to work for 14 days on the lunar surface. “With the support of multiple cameras on the rover, we will be able to receive images,” Singh said.

The space minister said the primary objectives of the Chandrayaan-3 mission are threefold: to demonstrate safe and soft-landing on the lunar surface; to demonstrate rover roving on the Moon; and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.

Singh said based on the current trajectory of Growth, India’s space sector could be a $1 trillion economy in the coming years. Currently, the space economy in India is very small accounting for about 2.1% of the global space economy in 2020 amounting to $9.6 billion, which is 0.4$ of the GDP of the country.

China on Friday insisted it is up to the US to create necessary conditions for anti-drugs cooperation, following complaints from Washington that Beijing has ignored its calls for a crackdown on precursor chemicals for the highly addictive painkiller fentanyl.

China takes an active part in international anti-narcotic cooperation and firmly opposes smears and unilateral sanctions on other countries under the pretext of the fight against drugs, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing.

China was also deeply angered by a decision late last month by the U.S. Department to file criminal charges against four Chinese companies and eight individuals for allegedly trafficking the chemicals used to make fentanyl in the United States and Mexico.

The indictments represented the first prosecutions to charge China-based chemical companies and Chinese nationals with illegally selling the chemicals used to make the drug, which has been blamed for a deadly overdose crisis.

The Chinese Embassy condemned the charges, accusing the U.S. government of seeking to shift the blame for its domestic drug problem.

China has also complained over sanctions leveled against the Ministry of Public Securitys Institution of Forensic Science over a lack of action on combating the production and sale of fentanyl precursor chemicals, and says U.S. claims of a pipeline of such substances from China to Mexico and into the US is a fallacy.

The Scottish government has proposed decriminalising possession of all drugs for personal use to tackle one of Europes highest overdose death rates.

The suggestion was almost instantly blocked by the Conservative UK government in London, which said it had no plans to soften drug laws.

The Scottish government has often taken more liberal positions on social issues than the Conservative administration in London. Last year a law passed by the Scottish parliament that would make it easier for people to officially change gender was blocked by Sunak’s government.

The governing SNP uses such disagreements to bolster its argument that Scotland would be better off leaving the United Kingdom and becoming an independent country.