Home » Current Affairs Date: 18 April 2022

Current Affairs Date: 18 April 2022

National

46th Civil Accounts Day

⇒ The 46th Civil Accounts Day was celebrated on 2nd March 2022 at Dr Ambedkar International Centre, Janpath, New Delhi.

    • Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt Nirmala Sitharaman was the Chief Guest.
Smt Sitharaman launched a major e-governance initiative – the Electronic Bill (e-Bill) processing system as part of ease of doing business and Digital India eco-system for Central Government Ministries on the 46th Civil Accounts Day.

A Budget 2022-23 announcement, the e- Bill system will be implemented across all Central Ministries and Departments.

Developed by:

The e-Bill system has been developed by the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) Division in the office of the Controller General of Accounts in the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance.

In a phased manner, the new system will make the entire process of submission and backend processing of bills completely paperless and transparent. The system has been initially rolled out in nine Pay and Accounting Units of nine Ministries/Departments. The e-Bill system will be rolled out in other Ministries/Departments in a phased manner in 2022-23.

The objectives of the system are to:
    • Provide convenience to all vendors/suppliers of the government to submit their bills/claims at anytime, from anywhere.
    • Eliminate physical interface between suppliers and government officers.
    • Enhance efficiency in processing of bills/claims.
    • Reduce discretion in processing of bills through “First-In-First-Out” (FIFO) method.

Continuation of the seven existing sub schemes

⇒ The Government has approved the proposal for continuation of the seven existing sub schemes under the Umbrella Scheme “Relief and Rehabilitation of Migrants and Repatriates” for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 with a total outlay of Rs.1,452 crore.

    • The Government, at different points of time had started different schemes. 
These seven schemes provide assistance for:
    1. Relief and Rehabilitation of displaced families of Pakistan Occupied Areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Chhamb
    2. Relief assistance to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees
    3. Relief assistance to Brus lodged in relief camps in Tripura
    4. Enhanced relief to 1984 Anti-Sikh Riot Victims
    5. Financial Assistance and other facilities to the families of affected civilian victims of terrorist violence including militancy, insurgency, communal/ Left Wing Extremism violence and cross border firing and victims of mine/IED blasts on Indian Territory
    6. Grants-in-aid to Central Tibetan Relief Committee (CTRC)
    7. The Government is also providing Grants-in-Aid to Government of West Bengal for infrastructure development in 51 erstwhile Bangladeshi enclaves in India, situated in Cooch Behar District and for resettlement of 922 returnees from erstwhile Indian enclaves in Bangladesh.

“Sabka Vikas MahaQuiz” Series

⇒ In order to build awareness amongst citizens about good governance, MyGov has launched the “Sabka Vikas MahaQuiz” series, on 1st March, 2022.

This is a year-long project and consists of 14 episodes, all hosted at Quiz.MyGov.in.

“Sabka Vikas MahaQuiz series” aims to sensitise the participants about the various government schemes and initiatives.

» The first quiz is on Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY).

    • PM-GKAY is a pro-poor package intended to reduce the challenges encountered by the poor as a result of disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

NIC Tech Conclave 2022

⇒ The Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship and Electronics & IT, Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar, inaugurated the ‘NIC Tech Conclave 2022’ at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on March 3, 2022.

This was the 3rd edition of ‘NIC Tech Conclave’. The two-day event was organized by National Informatics Centre (NIC) at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 3rd and 4th March 2022.

Theme:

The Theme for Tech Conclave 2022 was “Next Gen Technologies for Digital Government”.

    • Tech Conclave was focused on Emerging Technologies applicable especially in e-Governance.

» NIC’s Tech Conclave 2022 enriched IT Managers of the Government Ministries/ Departments on the latest ICT technologies and their use cases on the latest technologies and industry best practices.

» It provided a platform for IT Secretaries of State Governments to better know the new technologies and applications which can be rolled out in the states.

» The speakers in this 2022 Conclave were experts from the IT industry. They shared their expertise in various areas like Artificial Intelligence, Data Analytics, Next Gen Database Solutions, Cyber Security, Future of Cloud, and various e-Governance Solutions, etc.

Book:

» Commemorating Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav at NIC, MoS Shri Rajeev Chandrasekhar released the ebook titled #75DigitalSolutionsfromNIC.

    • The e-book outlines the benefits of various Government Schemes & initiatives achieved, through Digital Transformation facilitated with the help of NIC developed technology-driven solutions for the Citizens, Businesses, and the Government.

» MoS also released the book titled “Citizen Empowerment Through Digital Transformation in Government” edited by Dr. Neeta Verma, DG NIC.

    • The book captures the technology-led transformation of various sectors & their evolution presented from the lens of NIC officers working on PAN India digital infrastructure and services.

Important Day

World Hearing Day 2022

⇒ World Hearing Day is observed every year on 3 March to raise awareness on how to prevent deafness and hearing loss and promote ear and hearing care across the world.

    • 10th World Hearing Day was celebrated on 03 March 2022.
Theme:

The theme of World Hearing Day 2022 was “To hear for life, listen with care”. It focused on the importance and means of hearing loss prevention through safe listening.

History:
    • World Health Organization (WHO) celebrated World Hearing Day for the first time on 03 March 2007.
    • In 2016, they decided to declare this day as World Hearing Day. It was known as International Ear Care Day before that.

Source: PIB & Other News Reports

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