ENLIGHTENED MINDS_Inspiring Excellence

CASE STUDY-1 Mihir is a new Panchayat secretary. Within few days he got a circular which said that he should soon conduct Grama Sabha to finalize the action plan of MGNREGA. Action plan contains the list of works to be undertaken in the villages and their estimated expenditures. This should be decided in the Grama Sabha and the decision of Gram Sabha is immutable. The Gram Sabha was held and chairman, all elected members, officer in-charge,engineer,  people from villages debated and finally listed important works to be undertaken and the estimated expenditure was decided there itself. Next, this plan had to be approved in the Panchayat meeting and sent to Tehsil for further approval for sanction of funds. The chairman of Panchayat, who was also a class-I contractor, met Mihir and asked him to manipulate the funds estimates. Even few members who themselves were small time contractors and who had previously used machines in MGNREGA scheme to finish works and draw money, jo...

Essay Topic: Education  “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” Nelson Mandela “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi “Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” Margaret Mead “Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learnt in school.” Einstein “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.” Aristotle Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education. Education is a bridge from misery to hope “Education is the manifestation of perfection already in man.” Swami Vivekananda Education that does not mould the character is absolutely worthless. – Mahatma Gandhi To educate a person in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to the society – Theodore Roosevelt The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. “Educating the m...

1. Rakesh is a responsible district level officer, who enjoys the trust of his higher officials. Knowing his honesty, the government entrusted him with the responsibility of identifying the beneficiaries under a health care scheme meant for senior citizens. The criteria to be a beneficiary are the following: (a) 60 years of age or above. (b) Belonging to a reserved community. (c) Family income of less than 1 Lakh rupees per annum. (d) Post-treatment prognosis is likely to be high to make a positive difference to the quality of life of the beneficiary. One day, an old couple visited Rakesh’s office with their application. They have been the residents of a village in his district since their birth. The old man is diagnosed with a rare condition that causes obstruction in the large intestine. As a consequence, he has severe abdominal pain frequently that prevents him from doing any physical labour. The couple has no children to support them. The expert surgeon whom they contacted ...

10th July - Current Affairs : THIRD-PARTY ADMINISTRATORS (TPAs) : Ø Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has mooted multiple changes in the regulations governing Third-Party Administrators (TPAs)-Health Services . Third-Party Administrators (TPAs) : Ø TPAs are IRDAI-licensed third-party entities who provide management solutions to health insurance companies. Ø They act as an intermediary between the insurance company and policyholder. A range of services are offered by TPAs in health insurance segment from administering services to handling claims. Ø The first set of regulations governing the TPAs were issued by IRDAI in 2001.  This also marked the introduction of the concept of TPAs in the health insurance space, Recent changes suggested by IRDAI in the regulations governing TPAs-Health Services : Ø For greater competition, it is proposed to allow the policyholders to choose the TPA of their choice from those engaged by ...

8th July – Current Affairs Antifa : Ø History:  Antifa has been around for several decades, with some dating it as far back as Nazi Germany. Ø Etymology : Antifa is borrowed from German Antifa, short for antifaschistisch ‘anti-fascist’, in Antifaschistische Aktion (multiparty front initiated by the German Communist Party in 1932 to counter Nazism) and in other collocations. Ø Global presence:  While the movement has had a presence in several European countries and has now come into focus in the United States following the election of President Trump in 2016, with violence marking some of its protests and demonstrations. Ø Membership:  Antifa does not have a formal organisational structure. It draws its members from other movements such as Black Lives Matter and the Occupy movement. Ø Functioning:  Antifa members typically dress in black and often wear a mask at their demonstrations, and follow far-left ideologies such as anti-capitalism. Th...

7th JULY -CURRENT AFFAIRS JAIPUR – INDIA’s 38TH UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE TAG ·         Pink City JAIPUR becomes India gets its 38th UNESCO World Heritage Site ·         Jaipur was deliberately planned as a new city on the plains open for trade as opposed to hilly terrain and military cities of past. ·         Its iconic monuments such as the Govind Dev temple, City Palace, Jantar Mantar and Hawa Mahal excel in artistic and architectural craftsmanship of the period. SPORTS CENTRE OF EXCELLENCE ·         Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs and Sports Kiren Rijiju informed that central government is going to set-up three Sports Centre of Excellence in Itanagar very soon. ·         The three centre of excellence will be for Martial Arts, Weight Lifting and Boxing. · ...

6th July –Current Affairs : 10-point Vision for the decade : Citing its genesis in the Interim Budget 2019-20 presented in February 2019, the Finance Minister flagged ten points of the Government’s ‘Vision for the Decade’: 1)     Building physical and social infrastructure; 2)     Digital India reaching every sector of the economy; 3)     Pollution free India with green Mother Earth and Blue Skies; 4)     Make in India with particular emphasis on MSMEs , Start - ups , Defence manufacturing, automobiles, electronics, fabs and batteries, and medical devices; 5)     Water, water management, clean Rivers; 6)     Blue Economy; 7)     Space programmes. Gaganyan , Chandrayan and Satellite programmes; 8)     Self-sufficiency and export of food-grains, pulses, oilseeds, fruits and vegetables; 9)     Healthy society – Ayushman Bharat...