UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 27-11-2020

National Portal for Transgender Persons

• Recently, Union Social Justice & Empowerment ministry has e-launched a ‘National Portal for Transgender Persons’.
• The Portal would help a transgender person in applying for a Certificate and Identity card digitally from anywhere in the country.
• The most important benefit is that it helps the transgender person to get the I-Card without any physical interface and without having to visit any office.
• The applicant can download them from the Portal itself, once the Certificate and I-card are issued.
• The right to self-perceived gender identity and the procedure to issue the Transgender certificate and Identity card has been defined in the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Rules.

Garima Greh

• Under the Scheme of Shelter Home for Transgender Persons, Garima Greh: Shelter Home for Transgender Persons’ has been inaugurated, in Vadodara, Gujarat.
• It includes shelter facility, food, clothing, recreational facilities, skill development opportunities, legal support, technical advice for gender transition and surgeries, etc.
• The Nodal Ministry has identified 10 cities to set up the 13 Shelter Homes and extend the facilities to Transgender persons, in association with selected 13 Community based organizations (CBOs) in the country on pilot basis.
• The cities include Vadodara, New Delhi, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Jaipur, Kolkata, Manipur, Chennai, Raipur and Mumbai.
• The scheme will rehabilitate a minimum of 25 transgender persons in each homes identified by the Ministry.

SDG Investor Map for India

• Recently Union Minister of Commerce & Industry has unveiled the SDG Investor Map for India.
• Invest India has partnered with United Nations Development Programme India to develop the first-ever 'SDG Investor Map for India'.
• It is aimed at laying out 18 Investment Opportunities Areas (IOAs) in six critical SDG enabling sectors, that can help India push the needle forward on Sustainable Development.
• The observations from the map present a strong case for investing in SDG enabling sectors and IOAs, bridging the gap between high-level development targets and the need for commercially viable returns.
• Key highlights of the SDG Investor Map are as follows

1. Nearly 50% of the shortlisted IOAs have historical investments that have yielded IRRs in excess of 20%.
2. 84% of the IOAs have investment timeframes ranging from the short term (less than 5 years) to the medium-term (between 5- 15 years).
3. Of the 18 IOAs identified, 10 are already mature investable areas that have seen robust Private Equity and Venture Capital activity, and feature companies that have been able to unlock scale and demonstrate profitability.
4. The remaining eight IOAs are emerging opportunities, which have seen traction from early-stage investors.
5. The map has also identified eight White Spaces, which have seen investor interest and have the potential to grow into IOAs within a 5-6-year horizon.

Invest India

• Invest India is the National Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of India.
• It was set up in 2009 as a non-profit venture under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT).
• It will act as the first point of reference for investors in India.
• Invest India focuses on sector-specific investor targeting and development of new partnerships to enable sustainable investments in India.
• It actively works with several Indian states to build capacity as well as bring in global best practices in investment targeting, promotion and facilitation areas.

Human Resource Management System (HRMS)

• Indian Railways has recently launched the digitised online Human Resource Management System (HRMS).
• It is a high thrust project for Indian Railways to leverage improved productivity & employee satisfaction.
• It enables a company to fully understand its workforce while staying compliant with changing tax laws and labour regulations.
• The Human Resource Management System (HRMS) will impact over 27 lakh families of serving Railway employees as well those who have retired.
• Key Highlights of HRMS are

1. The Employee Self Service (ESS) module enables railway employees to interact with various modules of HRMS including communication regarding change of data.
2. The Provident Fund (PF) Advance module enables Railway employees to check their PF balance and apply for PF advance online.
3. The Settlement module digitizes the entire settlement process of retiring employees which will enable employees to fill their settlement and pension booklet online.

Workshed Scheme for Khadi Artisans

• Workshed Scheme for Khadi Artisans is a Central Sector Scheme of Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) launched in 2008.
• Under the scheme, the financial assistance for construction of work sheds will be provided to those khadi artisans who belong to BPL category.
• The financial assistance to be provided by the Government will go to the institutions which will be responsible for the construction of work sheds.
• The additional requirements of funds over and above the financial assistance provided by the Government of India can be contributed by Khadi Institutions without insisting on any contribution from the beneficiaries.
• The khadi institutions can also release the additional funds assessed for construction of work shed out of the accumulations in State Level Artisan Welfare Fund Trust.

Swarna Jayanti Fellowship

• The Swarna Jayanti Fellowships scheme was instituted by the Government of India to commemorate India's 15^th year of Independence.
• It provides special assistance and support to a selected number of young scientists with a proven track record to enable them to pursue basic research in frontier areas of science and technology.
• The award consists of a Fellowship of Rs. 25000 per month in addition to the salary drawn from the parent Institute along with a Research Grant of Rs. 5 lakh per annum by Department of Science and Technology (DST) for a period of 5 years.
• In addition to fellowship, grants for equipment, computational facilities, consumables, contingencies, national and international travel, and other special requirements, if any, is covered based on merit.
• The fellowships are scientist specific and not institution-specific, very selective, and have close academic monitoring.
• Scientists selected for the award are allowed to pursue unfettered research with a freedom and flexibility in terms of expenditure as approved in the research plan.
• The project should contain innovative research ideas and it should have a potential of making impact on R&D in the discipline.
• The project submitted by the selected Fellows are considered for funding by the Science & Engineering Research Board (SERB) as per SERB norms.
• Recently Department of Science & Technology (DST) has selected 21 scientists for the Swarna Jayanti fellowship.

Chhath Puja

• Chhath is a Hindu festival dedicated to the Sun god and his wife Usha in order to thank them for bestowing the bounties of life on earth.
• The word chhath means sixth and the festival is celebrated on the sixth day of the month Kartika of the Hindu lunar Bikram Sambat calendar. 
• The festival is observed over a period of four days, Goddess Chhathi Maiya is worshipped during the Chhath Puja.
• The main worshipers, called Parvaitin, are usually women.
• However, many men also observe this festival as Chhath is not a gender-specific festival. 
• The rituals include holy bathing, fasting, standing in water for long periods of time, and offering prayers and food to the setting and rising sun.
• The festival is observed most elaborately in Mithila Province of Nepal, Terai-Madhesh region of Nepal, Indian states of Bihar, Jharkhand and UP. 

Source: PIB, Indian Express, AIR News, The Hindu