11-12-21 Daily-Punjab-PPSC Current Affairs

The financial burden on the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (Pspcl) has increased with recent Punjab Government announcements of subsidised/free power ahead of the Vidhan Sabha polls. The 2021-22 expenditure is estimated to reach around Rs 12,245 crore, up from Rs 10,621 crore.

However, in its tariff petition for the year 2022-23, the PSPCL has projected a gap of Rs 125 crore only, in view of the poll season, claim experts.

As per the annual revenue requirement (ARR) filed by the PSPCL, the gap of previous years amounts to Rs 1,611 crore thus making a total revenue gap of Rs 1,912 crore. The total ARR has been worked out Rs 36,484 crore and the revenue receipt on the basis of present approved tariff has been worked out as Rs 36,702 crore.

As the power regulator always reduces the expenditure proposed by the PSPCL, there may not be any hike in power rates, despite the government reducing the prices. As per the ARR, the major expenditure is for power purchase. The purchase has been estimated at Rs 24,910 crore, including interstate transmission charges.

The other major expenditure is of employees salary and pensions and this has been worked out at Rs 5,552 crore. However, in order to subdue the ARR in the election year, the PSPCL has not included any payments to employees against pay revisions. As per information, against pay revision, the total arrears will amount to about Rs 3,000-3,500 crore, of which around Rs 1,000 crore are payable in 2021-22 and balance in the coming years.

State Governments and Union Territories have utilized only 56% of the total budgets released under Poshan Abhiyan or Nutrition Mission in the earlier 3 years.

Highlights:

On December 8, the Minister for Women & Child Development, Smriti Irani, mentioned this in Parliament.

The central government emphasized that out of the total share of Rs 5312 between financial years 2019 to 2021, Rs 2985 crore was utilized.

Poshan Abhiyan was established in March 2018 to facilitate stunting, low birth weight, undernutrition challenges by 2% per year.

It also aims to decrease anaemia among young children, women and adolescents by 3% by 2022.

POSHAN Maah was followed in September 2018 to improve nutritional consequences for adolescent girls, children, pregnant women, and lactating mothers.

On December 8, 2021, the Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill was passed in Lok Sabha.

Highlights:

The Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill was recently passed in the Lok Sabha which intends to regulate ART but then referred the bill to a standing committee.

ART covers all methods that are used to get pregnant. The procedures shall incorporate handling oocytes (immature eggs) or sperms outside the body.

It shall also involve giving the embryo into the womans body.

The ART Services shall cover the following: Donation of sperm or oocytes, In Vitro Fertilisation – fertilizing an egg and a sperm in the lab, Gestational Surrogacy – child carried by biological mother or surrogate mother.

The bill states that every ART bank or clinic should be listed under the National Registry of Banks and Clinics of India. The bill will authorize the National Registry.

The registry will act as a Database holding details of the hospitals and banks providing ART services.

Kerala had made digital Learning accessible. However, it was not case in other States having a digital divide. Digital divide was a new kind of deprivation. Furthermore, in a study of Climate effects on children, India had been ranked at fifth place with respect to vulnerability to .

UNICEF India is designing an ambitious and innovative five-year programme, comprising of social policy as a priority across all the sectors.

While designing the new programme, UNICEF wanted to talk with all the stakeholders and get details on how what could be done better in the new Environment post COVID-19 and where <a href="https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change was a major priority.

Covid-19 and climate change had exacerbated the Learning crisis. Around 286 million children had been affected in India. This number excluded the millions out of school because of several reasons.

In the report, Europe has dominated the ranking in 2021. Global top 10 countries are from this region.

Switzerland has retained its top spot.

The UAE continues have improved its global talent ranking. Ranking has improved by one position to 23^rd. In 2019, it was ranked at 30^th

In the Arab world, UAE maintained its top position.

In the Middle East & North Africa, UAE maintained its second position, following Israel (first in this region).

The ranking is structured based on three factors:

and development,

Appeal and

Readiness

IMD World Competitive Centre published its World Talent Ranking Report on December 9, 2021.

This report is annually published by the IMD World Competitive Centre.

Report grades 64 economies on the basis of a range of factors like:

How economies invest in and develop local personnel

Their ability to attract & retain skilled workers, and

Quality of domestic talent pools.