India tops global slavery index

According to the 2016 Global Slavery Index, released by Australia-based human rights group Walk Free Foundation on 31st May, an estimated 45.8 million people, including women and children, are subject to some form of modern slavery in the world, compared to 35.8 million in 2014. The report said India has the highest absolute numbers of people trapped in slavery with 18.35 million slaves among its 1.3 billion population, while North Korea has the highest incidence (4.37 per cent of the population) and the weakest government response to deal with it.

DD Kisan–India’s first television channel dedicated to farmers

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, launch  DD Kisan, Doordarshan's channel dedicated exclusively to farmers at New Delhi. The DD Kisan channel should keep an eye and inform farmers about the changes in weather, global markets etc., so that farmers can plan ahead and take the right decisions well in time. 

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana

The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today gave its approval for the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) with an outlay of Rs. 1500 crore.

This will be the flagship scheme for skill training of youth to be implemented by the new Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship through the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC). The scheme will cover 24 lakh persons. Skill training would be done based on the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF) and industry led standards. Under the scheme, a monetary reward is given to trainees on assessment and certification by third party assessment bodies. The average monetary reward would be around Rs. 8000 per trainee.

Out of the total outlay of Rs. 1120 crore to be spent on skill training of 14 lakh youth, special emphasis has been given to recognition of prior learning for which an amount of Rs. 220 crore has been provided. Awareness building and mobilization efforts would be focused for attention, for which Rs. 67 crore has been provided. Mobilization would be done through skill melas organized at the local level with participation of the State Governments, Municipal Bodies, Pachayati Raj Institutions and community based organizations. The focus under the scheme is also on mentorship support and placement facilitation for which an outlay of Rs. 67 crore has been provided. An allocation of Rs. 150 crores has been made for training of youth from the North-East region.

Highlights of skill training would be that it would be done on the basis of demand assessed on the basis of recent skill gap studies conducted by the NSDC for the period 2013-17. For assessment of demand of Central Ministries/Departments/State Governments, industry and business would be consulted. A demand aggregator platform would be launched for the purpose very soon. The target for skilling would be aligned to demand from other flagship programmes launched in recent times such as Make in India, Digital India, National Solar Mission and Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Skill training under the new scheme will primarily be focused on a first time entrants to the labour market and primarily target Class 10 and Class 12 drop outs.

The scheme would be implemented through NSDC training partners. Currently NSDC has 187 training partners that have over 2300 centres. In addition, Central / State Government affiliated training providers would also be used for training under the scheme. All training providers will have to undergo a due diligence before being eligible for participating under this scheme. Focus under the PMKVY would be on improved curricula, better pedagogy and better trained instructors. Training would include soft skills, personal grooming, behavioral change for cleanliness, good work ethics. Sector Skill Councils and the State Governments would closely monitor skill training that will happen under PMKVY.

Skill Development Management System (SDMS) would be put in place to verify and record details of all training centres a certain quality of training locations and courses. Biometric system and video recording of the training process would be put in place where feasible. All persons undergoing training would be required to give feed back at the time of assessment and this would become the key element of the evaluation framework to assess the effectiveness of the PMKVY scheme. A robust grievance redressal system would be put in place to address grievances relating to implementation of the scheme. An online citizen portal would be put in place to disseminate information about the scheme.

Ratan Tata to head Indian Railways Kaya Kalp council

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu constituted 'Kaya Kalp' Council and appointed noted industrialist Ratan Tata as its head. The purpose of the Council is to recommend innovative methods and processes for the improvement, betterment and transformation of railways.

Delhi airport ranked No. 1

Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has been adjudged the world’s best airport in the 25-40 million passengers per annum category in the Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards given by the Airports Council International (ACI) for the year 2014. The airport improved from an ASQ score (measured on scale of 1 to 5) of 3.02 in 2007 to 4.90 in 2014. It was ranked second in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Padma Vibhushan Award 2015

S. No	Name of the Awardee	Discipline	State/Domicile
1.	Shri L. K. Advani	Public Affairs	Gujarat
2.	Shri Amitabh Bachchan	Art	Maharashtra
3.	Shri Prakash Singh Badal	Public Affairs	Punjab
4.	Dr. D. Veerendra Heggade	Social Work	Karnataka
5.	Shri Mohammad Yusuf Khan alias Dilip Kumar	Art	Maharashtra
6.	Shri Jagadguru Ramanandacharya Swami Rambhadracharya	Others	Uttar Pradesh
7.	Prof. Malur Ramaswamy Srinivasan	Science and Engineering	Tamil Nadu
8.	Shri Kottayan K. Venugopal	Public Affairs	Delhi
9.	Shri Karim Al Hussaini Aga Khan (Foreigner)	Trade and Industry	France/UK

More details on Padma Award 2015

National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)

The National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC) bill passed by Parliament in August this year has received President's assent. The new law facilitates the setting up of a commission for appointment of judges, replacing the 20-year-old collegium system, which has been under severe criticism. The bill, 124th amendment to the Constitution, grants Constitutional status to the NJAC and its composition which will be headed by the Chief Justice of India. Besides the CJI, the judiciary would be represented by two senior judges of the Supreme Court. Two eminent personalities and the Law Minister will be the other members of the body.