Daily Dose of GK : 16th October, 2015

Daily Dose of GK : 16th October, 2015

1. Supreme Court allowed use of Aadhar Card for all Central and State Welfare schemes on voluntary basis

The Supreme Court on 15 October 2015 allowed the use of Aadhaar cards for all central and state schemes, including Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and employee provident fund and pension schemes, on voluntary basis.

The government cannot force citizens to enrol for the card. The government cannot make it a criterion for benefits under various schemes. Also, the absence of an Aadhaar card will not disallow people from benefiting from these schemes.

2. RBI formed Financial Inclusion Fund with 2000 crore rupees corpus

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 15 October 2015 formed a single Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) with a corpus of 2000 crore rupees. The fund was formed by merging the Financial Inclusion Fund (FIF) and Financial Inclusion Technology Fund (FITF). The new FIF will be administered by the reconstituted Advisory Board constituted by Union Government and will be maintained by NABARD.

3. Rameswaram, birthplace of Dr. Abdul Kalam, included as 498th town under AMRUT

Union Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu on 15 October 2015 declared that former President Dr. Abdul Kalam’s birth place Rameswaram has been included in Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) for providing basic urban infrastructure.

Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) was approved by the Union Cabinet on 29 April 2015. The mission aims at providing basic infrastructure facilities in 500 cities with an outlay of 50000 crore rupees over the next five years (2015-16 to 2019-20).

4. Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) set up with 200 crore rupees by Union Government

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on 14 October 2015 introduced a scheme called Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) with an initial amount of 200 crore rupees. The scheme aims at enabling support to victims of various attacks, such as rape, acid attacks, human trafficking and women killed or injured in the cross border firing. It will also support and supplement the existing Victim Compensation Schemes (VCS) notified by states/UT administrations.

5. Govt flags off Science Express special train on climate change

The government flagged off the ‘Science Express Climate Action Special’ train from Delhi, as part of its initiative to sensitize the masses, especially children and the youth, about the issue of climate change, in the run-up to the global climate summit in Paris slated for December.

The Science Express—a joint initiative of the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC), the ministry of railways and the ministry of science and technology—has had an eight-year run. Last year, its theme was biodiversity. The Climate Action Special was flagged off by union minister for science and technology Harsh Vardhan along with railway minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu and environment minister Prakash Javadekar.