Current Affairs in Short: 8 December 2021

Rural Government Ministry, Flipkart sign agreement to empower SHGs producers

• Flipkart and the Ministry of Rural Development have signed an agreement to empower the Self Help Group producers including the weavers, artisans, craftsmen and access the national markets through Flipkart Samarth Programme.

• The Minister of State for Rural Development informed that as of November 30, 2021, 36 Self-Help Groups have been registered on Flipkart and 11 products have been listed for the sale.

• Under Flipkart Samarth Programme, the Self-help Group members and clusters will be provided training support for the products. They will also get a waiver of all commission charges for selling on Flipkart for 6 months.

Government released Rs. 120 crores grant to Manipur under Jal Jeevan Mission

• The Government of India has released Rs. 120 crores of central grant to Manipur state under Jal Jeevan Mission.

• The North-East State plans to make provision of tap water supply to every rural household of the state by September 2022. The mission is expected to be accomplished with the help of the grant by the Government.

• To date, out of over 4 lakh 50 thousand rural households in Manipur, 2 lakh 67 thousand have tap water connections.

• The Central Fund of Rs. 481 crores have been allocated to Manipur for 2021-22 for the implementation of the Government’s Jal Jeevan Mission. This is nearly four times the fund allocation that was made during 2020-21.

Mobile App Bhasha Sangam launched by the Ministry of Education

• A mobile app known as ‘Bhasha Sangam’ has been launched by the Ministry of Education. The app will help individuals in acquiring basic conversation abilities in languages other than one’s own mother tongue.

• Bhasha Sangam will assist around 75 lakh people. The initiative by the Government has been taken under Ek Bharat-Shreshtha Bharat Programme.

• Bhasha Sangam App has more than 100 sentences of common usage, both in the audio and text formats, in total of 22 Indian languages.

• The Government, during the Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav period, aims to teach 100 sentences in an Indian language other than one's Mother tongue. Another mobile app for Ek Bharat-Shreshta Bharat quiz has also been launched by the Government.

Prime Minister Modi holds meeting with top Ministers in Parliament

• PM Modi on December 8, 2021, held a meeting with the senior ministers in Parliament. The top ministers included Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi.

• The Parliament Winter Session started on November 29, 2021, and will continue till December 23, 2021. During the winter session, both the houses of Parliament witnessed repeated adjournments over the demands by the opposition for the revocation of 12 suspended MPs.

• The ministers from the Opposition were suspended for unruly conduct at the end of the Monsoon Session in August 2021 during the passage of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation) Amendment Bill, 2021.

Report on Localisation of SDGs through Panchayati Raj Institutions

• Giriraj Singh, the Union Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Institutions released a report with the title ‘Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Panchayati Raj Institutions’.

• The Union Minister also appreciated the efforts made by the Expert committee in bringing out the transformative report which will also serve as a plan for action in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

• The Panchayati Raj Ministry had constituted an expert Group Committee for providing the policy guidance to the Ministry on SDG Localization at the Panchayat Level.

• Two dedicated dashboards were also launched by the Union Minister. Gram Panchayat Development Plan Monitoring Dashboard and the Training Management Portal on the Capacity Building.