#On This Day:

•  70 years ago, in 1954 – India established its highest civilian awards, the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan.

 Bharat Ratna: 

• The Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India) is the highest civilian award of the Republic of India. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conferred in recognition of “exceptional service/performance of the highest order”, without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex.
• The award was originally limited to achievements in the arts, literature, science, and public services, but the government expanded the criteria to include “any field of human endeavour” in December 2011.
• The recommendations for the Bharat Ratna are made by the Prime Minister to the President, with a maximum of three nominees being awarded per year.
• The recipients receive a Sanad (certificate) signed by the President and a peepal leaf-shaped medallion.
• There is no monetary grant associated with the award.
• Bharat Ratna recipients rank seventh in the Indian order of precedence.
• The first recipients of the Bharat Ratna were: the last Governor-General of the Dominion of India and the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu – C. Rajagopalachari, second President and the first Vice President of India – Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Nobel Prize Laureate and Physicist C. V. Raman; who were honoured in 1954. Since then, the award has been bestowed upon 48 individuals, including 14 who were awarded posthumously.
• The Bharat Ratna medals are produced at Alipore Mint, Kolkata along with the other civilian and military awards like Padma Vibushan, Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri, and Param Veer Chakra

 The text “Bharat Ratna”, in Devanagari Script, is inscribed on the upper edge in silver gilt with a wreath set along on the lower edge. A platinum State Emblem of India was placed in the centre of the reverse side with the national motto, “Satyameva Jayate” in Devanagari Script (Sanskrit: सत्यमेव जयते; lit. “Truth alone triumphs”), inscribed in silver-gilt on the lower edge.

Padma Vibhushan

• The Padma Vibhushan (“Lotus Decoration”) is the second-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna.
• Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for “exceptional and distinguished service”.
• All persons without distinction of race, occupation, position or sex are eligible for these awards. However, government servants including those working with PSUs, except doctors and scientists, are not eligible for these Awards.
• The first recipients of the award were Satyendra Nath Bose, Nand Lal Bose, Zakir Husain, Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, and V. K. Krishna Menon, who was honoured in 1954.

Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) which houses the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) in Hyderabad stated that there is no tsunami threat to India following the detection of an earthquake of about magnitude 7.5 in the Richter Scale at 12.40 p.m. near the west coast of Honshu in Japan on Monday:

• The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) was established at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad, an autonomous body under Ministry of Earth Sciences which continues to provide timely tsunami advisories to stakeholders.
• The ITEWC is also providing tsunami services to 25 Indian Ocean Countries as part of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO framework.
• INCOIS has introduced several innovative concepts in tsunami modelling, mapping of coastal inundation, Decision Support System, SOPs to meet the emerging challenges and provide accurate and timely tsunami early warnings.
• INCOIS has established a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) & Strong Motion Accelerometers in Andaman and Nicobar Islands for quick and reliable estimation of source parameters for near source earthquakes.
• In addition, INCOIS has carried out Multi-hazard Vulnerability Mapping (MHVM) along the mainland of Indian coastland MHVM atlas has been prepared.
• The ITEWC, INCOIS regularly conducts workshops, training sessions and tsunami mock exercises to create awareness and preparedness about the tsunamis. In addition to workshops and training for disaster managers, ITEWC is also coordinating with coastal States/UTs to implement Tsunami Ready Programme, a concept introduced by UNESCO, at community level.

Sale of Electoral Bonds at Authorised Branches of State Bank of India (SBI) Electoral Bonds sale through State Bank of India’s 29 Authorised Branches w.e.f. 02.01.2024 to 11.01.2024:

• The Government of India has notified the Electoral Bond Scheme 2018 in a Gazette Notification dated 2nd January 2018.
• As per provisions of the Scheme, Electoral Bonds may be purchased by a person, who is a citizen of India or incorporated or established in India. A person being an individual can buy Electoral Bonds, either singly or jointly with other individuals.
• Only the Political Parties registered under Section 29A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and which secured not less than one per cent of the votes polled in the last General Election to the House of the People or the Legislative Assembly of the State, shall be eligible to receive the Electoral Bonds.
• The Electoral Bonds shall be encashed by an eligible Political Party only through a Bank account with the Authorised Bank.
• The Electoral Bonds shall be valid for fifteen calendar days from the date of issue and no payment shall be made to any payee Political Party if the Electoral Bond is deposited after expiry of the validity period.
• The Electoral Bond deposited by an eligible Political Party in its account shall be credited on the same day.

Case-by-case exemption from new MGNREGS payment system: Centre:

• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (Mahatma Gandhi NREGS) is a demand driven wage employment Scheme which provides for the enhancement of livelihood security of the households in rural areas of the country by providing at least one hundred days of guaranteed wage employment in every financial year to every household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.
• It provides livelihood security, i.e. fall-back options for livelihood for the rural households, when no better employment opportunity is available.
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005, requires that priority be given to women in such a way that at least one-third of the beneficiaries be women.
• Mahatma Gandhi NREG Scheme is a gender-neutral programme which promotes participation of women by providing wage parity with men, provision of separate schedule of rates of wages for women, facilities for crèche, work-side sheds for children, and child care services.
• In convergence with the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), women mates have also been introduced, which again facilitate the participation of women. The Scheme also endeavours to provide works near the residence of the beneficiaries.
• Under the scheme, worksite facilities such as drinking water, shed, medicines etc. is to be mandatorily provided. Failure to provide this attracts a penalty on the officials concerned. Further, the availability of these facilities are checked during inspections and social audits. Other fora for redressal of grievances can also be set in motion on its denial.

Significant milestone crossed – more than 1 crore screened for Sickle Cell Disease under the National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Mission:

The National Sickle Cell Anaemia Elimination Program, introduced in the Union Budget 2023, focuses on addressing the significant health challenges posed by sickle cell disease, particularly among tribal populations of the country.

• Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a chronic single gene disorder causing a debilitating systemic syndrome characterised by chronic anaemia, acute painful episodes, organ infarction and chronic organ damage and by a significant reduction in life expectancy.
• The program is executed in a mission mode as part of the National Health Mission (NHM), aims to eliminate sickle cell genetic transmission by the year 2047, showing a long-term commitment to eradicating the disease.
• Over a period of three years, spanning from the fiscal year 2023-24 to 2025-26, the program targets screening approximately 7.0 crore people. This ambitious goal highlights the program’s dedication to reaching a large portion of the population, promoting early diagnosis and intervention.

DRDO celebrates 66th Foundation Day:

• DRDO is the R&D wing of Ministry of Defence, Govt of India, with a vision to empower India with cutting-edge defence technologies and a mission to achieve self-reliance in critical defence technologies and systems, while equipping our armed forces with state-of-the-art weapon systems and equipment in accordance with requirements laid down by the three Services.
• DRDO’s pursuit of self-reliance and successful indigenous development and production of strategic systems and platforms such as Agni and Prithvi series of missiles; light combat aircraft, Tejas; multi-barrel rocket launcher, Pinaka; air defence system, Akash; a wide range of radars and electronic warfare systems; etc., have given quantum jump to India’s military might, generating effective deterrence and providing crucial leverage.
• “Balasya Mulam Vigyanam”—the source of strength is science-drives the nation in peace and war. DRDO has firm determination to make the nation strong and self-reliant in terms of science and technology, especially in the field of military technologies.
• DRDO was formed in 1958 from the amalgamation of the then already functioning Technical Development Establishment (TDEs) of the Indian Army and the Directorate of Technical Development & Production (DTDP) with the Defence Science Organisation (DSO).
• DRDO was then a small organisation with 10 establishments or laboratories. Over the years, it has grown multi-directionally in terms of the variety of subject disciplines, number of laboratories, achievements and stature.
• Several major projects for the development of missiles, armaments, light combat aircrafts, radars, electronic warfare systems etc are on hand and significant achievements have already been made in several such technologies