[CA] PURPLE Book

Union Minister of Family & Health Welfare, Dr. harsh Vardhan launched ‘The PURPLE Book’ a handbook on diets for diseases. The book provides general guidelines for hospitals on suitable diets for common medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, gut disorders and so on in a simple format and has been developed and vetted by experts in the field of food and nutrition. This book is available for free download on www.fssai.gov.in.

[GK] NIFT's in India

S. No	NIFT Campuses	State
1	Bengaluru	Karnataka
2	Bhopal	Madhya Pradesh
3	Bhubaneswar	Odisha
4	Chennai	Tamil Nadu
5	Gandhinagar	Gujarat
6	Hyderabad	Telangana
7	Jodhpur	Rajasthan
8	Kangra	Himachal Pradesh
9	Kannur	Kerala
10	Kolkata	West Bengal
11	Mumbai	Maharashtra
12	New Delhi	Delhi
13	Patna	Bihar
14	Raebareli	Uttar Pradesh
15	Shillong	Meghalaya
16	Srinagar	Jammu & Kashmir

[CA] Good Governance Index 2019

On December 25, 2019, the Minister of State (MoS- Independent Charge) for the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and MoS for Prime Minister’s Office; Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space Dr. Jitendra Singh launched the ‘Good Governance Index’ (GGI) in New Delhi.

The event was organised by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions to celebrate the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister (PM) Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In the 1st GGI released, the ranking was divided into three groups such as big states, north-east and hill states, and Union Territories (UT).

Big states: Tamil Nadu won the 1st position in the composite ranking for good governance index (GGI). Tamil Nadu was followed by Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana and Kerala in the  2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th place respectively.

Other top ranked big states: the states following Kerala are Madhya Pradesh (9th), West Bengal (10th), Telangana (11th), Rajasthan (12th), Punjab (13th), Orissa (14th), Bihar (15th), Goa (16th), Uttar Pradesh (17th) and Jharkhand (18)

North-east and hill category: Himachal Pradesh topped the ranking in followed North-east and hill category. It was followed by Uttarakhand (2nd), Tripura (3rd), Mizoram (4th), Sikkim (5th), Assam (6th), Jammu and Kashmir (7th) (now divided into 2 UT of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh), Manipur (8th), Meghalaya (9th), Nagaland (10th) and Arunachal Pradesh (11th).

Union Territories: Among the UTs, Puducherry topped the list. It was followed by Chandigarh (2nd), Delhi (3rd), Daman and Diu (4th), Andaman and Nicobar Islands (5th), Dadra and Nagar Haveli (6th) and Lakshadweep (7th).

GGI consideration on 10 sectors:

The GGI is also ranked based on ten sectors which are measured by 50 indicators. The 10 sectors are.,

1.    Agriculture and Allied Sectors

2.    Commerce & Industries

3.    Human Resource Development

4.    Public Health

5.    Public Infrastructure & Utilities

6.    Economic Governance

7.    Social Welfare & Development

8.    Judicial & Public Security

9.    Environment and

10.                      Citizen-Centric Governance.

Sector wise ranking:

#	Agriculture	Commerce & Industry	Public Health
1	Madhya Pradesh	Jharkhand	Kerala
2	Rajasthan	Andhra Pradesh	Tamil Nadu
3	Chhattisgarh	Telangana	Goa
#	Public Governance	Economic Governance	Judicial & Public Security
1	Tamil Nadu	Karnataka	Tamil Nadu
2	Gujarat	Maharashtra	Kerala
3	Punjab	Telangana	Chhattisgarh

[GK/ECON] Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana(PMKSY)

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) is a national mission to improve farm productivity and ensure better utilization of the resources in the country that aims to improve on-farm water use efficiency through a number of measures such as MI.

Launched on July 01, 2015 with an outlay of Rs. 50,000 crores for a period of 5 years (2015-16 to 2019-20).

[CA] Tamil Nadu tops in coverage under micro-irrigation for 2019

As per the data released by PMKSY (Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana) on December 22, 2019, Tamil Nadu topped the list in coverage under micro-irrigation for 2019. Out of the 3.64 lakh hectares brought under micro irrigation, Tamil Nadu accounts for around 1.39 lakh hectares, i.e., 38% of the total coverage in the country.

Tamil Nadu was followed by Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th place respectively.

Area coverage: Gujarat covered 77,858 hectares of area, AP covered 52,027 hectares, Maharashtra covered 36,831 hectares and Uttar Pradesh covered 25,680 hectares of area.

Tamil Nadu targets to cover more area: With about three months (January to March) to go for the end of the current fiscal year (FY 2019-20), Tamil Nadu hoped to cover around 1 lakh more hectares of area. It targets 2.5 lakh hectares.

As part of the Central scheme PMKSY, small and marginal farmers will be given 100% subsidy for the establishment of the systems while big farmers will be given 75% subsidy.

The Centre has sanctioned for installation of 17,500 solar agricultural pumpsets in Tamil Nadu. This has been done under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evem Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-Kusum) scheme. The capacity of the pump sets will be 5 horse power (HP) and 7 HP. The officials are also planning to have the solar pump sets.

Click for Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana(PMKSY)

[CA] Indian Names for a Star and a planet

A white yellow star in Sextans constellation will be called ‘Bhibha’, a pioneering Indian woman scientist, and its Jupiter-like exoplanets, which were hitherto named HD 86081 and 86081b will be known as ‘Santamasa’ which means ‘clouded’ in Sanskrit.

The star has been named in honour of a pioneering Indian woman scientist Dr Bibha Choudhury, who discovered the subatomic particle pi-meson. The planet has been named Santamasa to reflect the cloudy nature of its atmosphere.

[CA] EChO

EChO Network, a national program to provide a template for cross-disciplinary leadership in India with the specific focus of increasing research, knowledge, and awareness of Indian ecology and the environment was launched yesterday in New Delhi.

Government said that, India faces unprecedented threats to its human environmental and ecosystems, solving which requires a confluence of India’s strong technological expertise and knowledge of the natural world itself. EChO Network would develop a national network to catalyse a new generation of Indians who can synthesize interdisciplinary concepts and tackle real-world problems in medicine, agriculture, ecology, and technology. With no precedent for such a network anywhere in the world, EChO Network establishes a new platform to change how science is embedded in our modern society.

The initiative has drawn in partners from Government, industry and academia, with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Govt. of India steering the program under the guidance of Prof. Shannon Olsson, Director, EChO Network. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Hindustan Unilever Limited, RoundGlass, India Climate Collaborative, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), and Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) are the founding partners of the EChO Network.

[GK/Awards/CA] Sahitya Akademi Awards 2019

#	Language	Genre	Title	Winner
1	Assamese	Novel	Chanakya	Joysree Goswami Mahanta
2	Bengali	Essays	Ghumer Darja Thele	Chinmoy Guha
3	Bodo	Poetry	Akhai Athumniphrai	Phukan Ch. Basumatary
4	Dogri	Essays	Bandralta Darpan	Om Sharma Jandriari
5	English	Non-Fiction	An Era of Darkness	Shashi Tharoor
6	Gujarati	Essays	Mojma Revu Re	Ratilal Borisagar
7	Hindi	Poetry	Chheelate Hue Apne Ko	Nand Kishore Acharya
8	Kannada	Autobiography	Kudi Esaru	Vijaya
9	Kashmiri	Short Stories	Akh Yaad Akh Qayamat	Abdul Ahad Hajini
10	Konkani	Poetry	The Words	Nilba A. Khandekar
11	Maithili	Poetry	Jingik Oriaon Karait	Kumar Manish Arvind
12	Malayalam	Poetry	Achan Piranna Veedu	V. Madhusoodanan Nair
13	Manipuri	Novel	Ei Amadi Adungeigi Eethat	L. Birmangol Singh (Beryl Thanga)
14	Marathi	Poetry	Kadachit Ajoonahi	Anuradha Patil
15	Odia	Short Stories	Bhaswati	Tarun Kanti Mishra
16	Punjabi	Short Stories	Antheen	Kirpal Kazak
17	Rajasthani	Short Stories	Bareek Baat	Ramsawroop Kisan
18	Sanskrit	Poetry	Prajnachakshusham	Penna Madhusudan
19	Santali	Short Stories	Sisirjali	Kali Charan Hembram
20	Sindhi	Short Stories	Jeejal	Ishwar Moorjani
21	Tamil	Novel	Sool	Cho. Dharman
22	Telugu	Novel	Septabhoomi	Bandi Narayana Swamy
23	Urdu	Biography	Sawaneh-E-Sir Syed: Ek Bazdeed	Shafey Kidwai