16-17.07.23 Daily [Andhra Pradesh] APPSC Current Affairs

Former special chief secretary Dr Manmohan Singh has been appointed as Pay Revision Commissioner (PRC) chairman. The 1985-batch IAS officer, Dr Singh, last served as Chief Commissioner Land Administration (CCLA) before demitting office in 2019.

The state government issued a GO appointing Dr Singh as one-man commission. He has been directed to submit his report within a year. Although, the state government constituted the 12th PRC as per the demands of employees unions, setting 12 months deadline for submission of reports would eventually means that the recommendations could be implemented only by the next government as the assembly elections are due in April-May.

Interestingly, the state government had initially decided to the practice of appointment of PRC at every four years keeping in view of the financial constraints of the state. The state government wanted to follow the Central PRC recommendations as the Centre had been revising the employees salaries once in a decade.

However, the state government, under pressure from the employees unions, reversed its decision and constituted another PRC. The salaries bill of employees in AP had touched 135 percent of the States Own Revenues by the time it implemented the previous PRC recommendations in 2022.

India witnessed 13.5 crore people moving out of multidimensionalpovertybetween 2015-16 and 2019-21 with fastest reduction in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan, aNitiAayogreportsaid.

The report — ‘National Multidimensional Poverty Index: A progress of Review 2023’ — was released by Suman Bery, Vice-Chairman, Niti Aayog.
“India has registered a significant decline of 9.89 percentage points in number of India’s multidimensionally poor from 24.85 per cent in 2015-16 to 14.96 per cent in 2019-21,” it said.

The National MPI measures simultaneous deprivations across three equally weighted dimensions of health, education, and standard of living that are represented by 12 sustainable development goal (SDG) aligned indicators.

The report said rural areas witnessed the fastest decline in poverty from 32.59 per cent to 19.28 per cent, while the urban areas saw a reduction in poverty from 8.65 per cent to 5.27 per cent.

Providing multidimensional poverty estimates for the 36 states and Union Territories, and 707 administrative districts, the report said the fastest reduction in the proportion of multidimensional poor was observed in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and Rajasthan.

In the five years, the MPI value halved from 0.117 to 0.066 and intensity of poverty reduced from 47 per cent to 44 per cent, thereby setting India on the path of achieving the SDG target 1.2 (of reducing multidimensional poverty by at least half) much ahead of the stipulated timeline of 2030.

NitiAayogsaid the government’s dedicated focus on improving access to sanitation, nutrition cooking fuel, financial inclusion, drinking water, and electricity has led to significant advancements in these areas.

IndiaMyanmarThailand Trilateral Highwayhas been a “very difficult project” because of the situation in Myanmar and it is the government’s priority to find ways to resume it, External Affairs Minister SJaishankarsaid.

Jaishankar is here to participate in the 12th Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC) Mechanism and attend the BIMSTEC Foreign Ministers’ Retreat.

India, Thailand and Myanmar are working on about 1,400-km-long highway that would link the country with Southeast Asia by land and give a boost to trade, business, health, education and tourism ties among the three countries.

Around 70 per cent of construction work on the ambitious India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway has been completed.

The highway will connect Moreh in Manipur, India with Mae Sot in Thailand via Myanmar.

The strategic highway project has been delayed. Earlier, the government was aiming to make the highway operational by December 2019.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman alongside Indonesian counterpart Mulyani Indrawati announced the launch of the Economic and Financial Dialogue between the two nations at the ministerial level.

This dialogue aims to foster collaboration, promote trade and investment, and enhance economic cooperation between India and Indonesia, two of the fastest-growing economies in the world.

The platform, unveiled during the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors (FMCBG) meeting, seeks to strengthen cooperation between the two nations and foster a shared understanding on global issues.

Since the adoption of Indias Look East Policy in 1991 and the subsequent Act East Policy, bilateral relations between India and Indonesia have witnessed significant growth in both commercial and cultural domains.

Indonesia has emerged as Indias largest trading partner in the ASEAN region, with trade between the two countries increasing eightfold since 2005, reaching a remarkable USD 38 billion last year.