Assam Current Affairs September 15-21, 2018

Current Affairs Assam – September 2018

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the month of September 2018 )

September 21

India successfully test fired the surface-to-surface short-range tactical ballistic missile Prahaar from the Odisha coast amid a heavy downpour on 20^th September.
The missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was test fired from launching complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Balasore.
The Prahaar missile has a strike range of 150 km. Fuelled by solid propellant, it is about 7.32 meters long and its diameter is 420 mm.
The missile was launched from a road-mobile launcher. Its launch weight is about 1.28 tonne and it can carry a payload of 200 kg.

FACTFILE – Prahaar

It is an Indian solid-fuel road-mobile tactical ballistic missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Prahaar is expected to replace the Prithvi-I short-range ballistic missile.
The export variant of the system is the Pragati surface to surface missile.
Pragati has a higher range of 170 km and shares 95% of Prahaar’s hardware components.

The Union Home Ministry (MHA) roped in Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) for setting up a state-of-the-art Integrated Control Room for Emergency Response (ICR-ER) in the MHA.
As per the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with ISRO, the latter will render its technical expertise in setting up the proposed ICR-ER whereas the project will be executed under overall supervision of MHA.
The ICR-ER will cater to the requirement of disaster management as well as internal security.
It will address the requirement of receipt of information on near real-time basis, strategic level monitoring, situation awareness, command and control, preparedness and response in the diverse internal security situation and disaster-related emergencies
Consequently, it will increase the operational effectiveness and will be helpful in rendering timely response and assistance during emergency situations..

Indian Govt will be conducting population-based screenings for diabetes, hypertension and three types of common cancers under National Health Mission (NHM).
Under Ayushman Bharat, the govt have decided to transform 1.5 lakh sub-centre and public health centres into health and wellness centres to provide a bouquet of 12 different kinds of services of which Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) also forms an important part.
NCD screening programme addresses hypertension, diabetes, oral, breast and cervical cancers and covers all men and women over the age of 30 years.
The programme, which is one of the modules in Ayushman Bharat’s Comprehensive Primary Healthcare (CPHC) Initiative, is currently being deployed in about 200 districts across the country.
The Health ministry also exchanged Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with Dell and Tata Trusts in order to provide a technological platform for prevention, control, screening and management program of NCDs.

FACTFILE – National Health Mission (NHM)

National Health Mission was launched by the government of India in 2013 subsuming the National Rural Health Mission and National Urban Health Mission. It was further extended in March 2018, to continue till March 2020.
The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), now under National Health Mission is an initiative undertaken by the government of India to address the health needs of under-served rural areas. Launched on 5th April 2005 by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the NRHM was initially tasked with addressing the health needs of 18 states that had been identified as having weak public health indicators.
The Union Cabinet, on 1 May 2013, approved the launch of National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) as a Sub-mission of an overarching National Health Mission (NHM), with National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) being the other Sub-mission of National Health Mission.

FACTFILE – Ayushman Bharat

Ayushman Bharat – Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana is a program which aims to provide a service to create a healthy, capable and content new India.
Presently it is running as a pilot project in Uttar Pradesh from 4 September 2018.
It has two goals, one, creating a network of health and wellness infrastructure across the nation to deliver comprehensive primary healthcare services, and another is to provide insurance cover to at least 40 per cent of India’s total population which is majorly deprived of secondary and tertiary care services.
This centrally sponsored flagship scheme aims to provide an annual health cover of up to Rs. 5 lakh to vulnerable 10 crore families (approximately 50 crore persons – 40% of country’s population) based on Socio Economic and Caste Census database.
Ayushman Bharat Yojana was launched on 23 September 2018[8]. Beneficiaries will receive Ayushman Bharat Family Health Cards The key stakeholders in the scheme besides the consumers or beneficiaries are the Healthcare Providers, state governments and Insurance companies without whose support and involvement the execution of this scheme cannot happen.
The scheme was launched in the background of 71st Round of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) which has found 9% of rural households and 82% of urban households to be having no access to healthcare insurance/assurance. More than 17% of Indian population spend at least 10% of household budgets for health services.