Ministry of Coal Launched ‘Khanan Prahari’ Mobile App to Curb Illegal Mining

Why In News

·         The Government of India has launched a mobile app “KhananPrahari” and a web app Coal Mine Surveillance and Management System (CMSMS) for reporting unauthorized coal mining activities.

Key Points

·         The Government of India has launched a mobile app “KhananPrahari” and a web app Coal Mine Surveillance and Management System (CMSMS) for reporting unauthorized coal mining activities so that monitoring and taking suitable action on it can be done by the concerned Law & Order enforcing authority.

·         The CMSMS has been developed to curb illegal mining and take transparent action as an e-Governance initiative of GoI on the use of Space Technology.

·         The objective of the development and launching of the CMSMS application was to detect citizens’ participation against illegal mining by receipt of citizen complaints through a mobile app – KhananPrahari.

·         The app will help to monitor and take action on any kind of illegal coal mining activity being carried out within the leasehold boundaries of any Coal Mining Project in the Coalfield Areas.

·         It is a Mobile App of the Ministry of Coal for Reporting Illegal Coal Mining and a tool for reporting any illegal coal mining incident through geo-tagged photographs as well as textual information by any citizen from the place of incidence.

·         The following measures are taken to reduce illegal coal mining operations in the country: –

o   Concrete walls have been erected on the mouth of the abandoned mines to prevent access and illegal activities in these areas.

o   Surprise raids/checks are being conducted jointly by security personnel and law and order authorities of the concerned State Government.

o   Dumping of the overburden is being done on the outcrop zones.

Namami Gange Mission-II Approved with Budgetary Outlay of 22,500 cr till 2026

Why In News

·         Namami Gange Programme was launched from June 2014 till 31st March 2021 to rejuvenate River Ganga and its tributaries with a budget of Rs.20,000 crore.

Key Points

·         Namami Gange Programme was launched from June 2014 till 31st March 2021 to rejuvenate River Ganga and its tributaries with a budget of Rs.20,000 crore.

·         The Government of India has approved Namami Gange Mission-II with a budgetary outlay of Rs.22,500 crore till 2026 including projects for existing liabilities (Rs.11,225 Cr) and new projects/interventions (Rs.11,275 crore).

·         A total of Rs.14,084.72 crore has been released by the Government of India to the National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG), from Financial Year 2014-15 till 31st January 2023, out of which Rs.13,607.18 crore have been released by NMCG to State Governments, State Missions for Clean Ganga and other agencies for implementation of projects related to Ganga rejuvenation.

·         There is no State-wise allocation under the Namami Gange Programme. However, the amount released by NMCG to various agencies for implementation of projects, compiled State-wise, from 2014-15 up to 31 January 2023, is as under:

State                         Amount

·         Uttarakhand  1,149.01

·         Uttar Pradesh           4,347.24

·         Bihar  3,526.43

·         Jharkhand     250.05

·         West Bengal 1,369.12

·         Madhya Pradesh     9.89

·         Delhi  1,253.86

·         Haryana         89.61

·         Rajasthan      71.25

·         Himachal Pradesh   3.75

·         Under Namami Gange Programme, a comprehensive set of interventions such as wastewater treatment, solid waste management, riverfront management, e-flow, afforestation, biodiversity conservation Public Participation, etc. have been taken up for the rejuvenation of river Ganga and its tributaries.

·         Till 31st December 2022, a total of 409 projects have been taken up at an estimated cost of Rs. 32,912.40 Crore, out of which 232 projects have been completed and made operational.

·         The majority of the projects pertain to the creation of sewage infrastructure as untreated domestic/industrial wastewater is the main reason for pollution in the river.

·         177 sewerage infrastructure projects have been taken up with a cost of Rs. 26,673.06 Crore for the creation & rehabilitation of 5 million Liters per Day (MLD) of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) capacity and laying of around 5,213.49 KM sewerage network.

·         Among these, 99 sewerage projects have been completed resulting in the creation & rehabilitation of 2,043.05 MLD of STP capacity and the laying of a 4,260.95 KM sewerage network.

·         To sustain the continued operation of the sewage treatment infrastructure, a Hybrid Annuity based PPP mode has also been adopted.

Reserve Bank of India Announces 2nd Global Hackathon “HARBINGER 2023”

Why In News

·         The Reserve Bank announced its second global hackathon - 'HARBINGER 2023 - Innovation for Transformation' with the theme 'Inclusive Digital Services'.

Key Points

·         The Reserve Bank announced its second global hackathon – ‘HARBINGER 2023 – Innovation for Transformation’ with the theme ‘Inclusive Digital Services’. Registration for the hackathon starts from February 22, 2023.

·         It had received 363 proposals submitted by teams from within India and from 22 other countries including the US, UK, Sweden, Singapore, Philippines, and Israel.

·         Fintechs have been invited to develop solutions that have the potential to make digital financial services accessible to the differently-abled, facilitate efficient compliance, extend the reach of Central Bank Digital Currencies and enhance the scalability of blockchains.

The RBI has invited innovative ideas in four segments:

·         ‘Innovative, easy-to-use, digital banking services for differently-abled (Divyaang);

·         RegTech solutions to facilitate more efficient compliance by Regulated Entities (REs)’;

·         Exploring use cases/solutions for CBDC-Retail transactions, including transactions in offline mode’;

·         ‘increasing Transactions Per Second (TPS)/ throughput and scalability of blockchains’.

More About The Global Hackathon:

·         Winner of the hackathon will be given a prize of Rs 40 lakh and runner-up Rs 20 lakh. The first hackathon was announced in November 2021 and results were declared in June 2022.

RBI Cancels Registration of Two Entities for Regulatory Lapses

Why In News

·         The Reserve Bank of India said it has cancelled the registration of Pune-based Kudos Finance and Investments and Mumbai-based Credit Gate for regulatory lapses in lending practices.

Key Points

·         The Reserve Bank of India said it has cancelled the registration of Pune-based Kudos Finance and Investments and Mumbai-based Credit Gate for regulatory lapses in lending practices. With cancelled Certificate of Registration(CoR), the two NBFCs should not transact the business of a non-banking financial institution, the RBI said in a statement.

Need of The Cancellation:

·         The Certificate of Registration(CoR) of the two NBFCs have been cancelled on account of violation of RBI Guidelines on Outsourcing and Fair Practices Code in their digital lending operations undertaken through third party apps, which was considered detrimental to public interest,” it said.

·         According to the statement, the entities were also not complying with the extant regulations pertaining to charging of excessive interest and had resorted to undue harassment of customers for loan recovery purposes.

RBI’s Continuous Effective Regulation:

·         Prior to this, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked online payment gateway PayU India to reapply for its initial payment aggregator (PA) licence.

Science Center and Planetarium to be constructed in Kota by NCSM

Why In News

·         Science Center and Planetarium will be constructed in Kota, Rajasthan. The Science Center and Planetarium will be one of the best science centers and planetariums in the world.

Key Points

·         The Science Center and Planetarium will be constructed in Kota, Rajasthan. The Science Center and Planetarium will be one of the best science centers and planetariums in the world. About 35 crore 25 lakh rupees will be spent on these.

·         An MoU was signed between the National Council of Science Museums and the Science and Technology Department of the Government of Rajasthan in this regard.

·         National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture. It is the largest chain of science centers or museums under a single administrative umbrella in the world.

·         There are 24 science centers or museums and one R & D laboratory and training center of NCSM, located in different states in India.

·         The first science museum, Birla Industrial and Technological Museum (BITM), Kolkata under CSIR43, was opened on 2 May 1959. In July 1965, the second science museum of the country, the Visvesvaraya Industrial & Technological Museum (VITM) was opened in Bangalore.

The largest Planetarium in India?

·         Birla Planetarium in Kolkata is the largest planetarium in Asia and the second largest in the world. It is one of the most famous planetariums in India.

·         Popularly known as Taramandal, the planetarium was inaugurated on 2 July 1963 by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru.

·         It has an electronics laboratory for the design and fabrication of science equipment. It has an astronomy gallery that maintains a huge collection of fine paintings and celestial models of renowned astronomers.