Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

India and the Southeast Asia region share a long history of cultural and commercial relations. The classical Sanskrit and Pali texts from India carry references of the region using various names such as Kathakosha, Suvarnabhumi (the land of god) or Suvarnadvipa (the golden island).

• As part of his visit to Thailand for the ninth India-Thailand joint commission meeting, External Affairs Minister visited the Devasthan in Bangkok. 
• The Devasthan is the Royal Brahmin Office of the Thai Royal Court and is the official centre of Hinduism in Thailand.
• A French scholar named George Coedes. He coined the term ‘Farther India’ to refer to those states that experienced “the civilising activity of India’. 
• Geographically, it refers to Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and the Malay states.
• The Sanskrit, Buddhist, and Jain texts indicate that interactions between the two regions go back more than two thousand years ago, mainly through sea voyages and that trade played an important role.
• In the past two decades, with regular political exchanges, growing trade and investment, India’s ties with Thailand have now evolved into a comprehensive partnership. India’s ‘Act East’ policy has been complemented by Thailand’s ‘Act West’ policy in bringing the two countries closer.

India-Thailand Religious Link

• The traders brought along with them Indian religion, culture, traditions and philosophy along with them to the shores of Southeast Asia.
• They were also accompanied by Brahmin priests, Buddhist monks, scholars and adventurers and all of them played an important role in the transmission of Indian culture to the natives of Southeast Asia.
• Some of the merchants and Brahmin priests married the local girls and were often employed by the local rulers.
• The Mon kings of Dvaravati and the Khmers had patronised Buddhism and built several Buddhist edifices, but at the same time had also adopted Brahmanical customs and practises.
• Apart from the popular Brahmanical deities of Ganesh, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, those that are largely absent in Indian socio-religious landscape, such as Indra are also worshiped in Thailand.

Strategic partnership

• In the past two decades, with regular political exchanges, growing trade and investment, India’s ties with Thailand have now evolved into a comprehensive partnership.
• India’s ‘Act East’ policy has been complemented by Thailand’s ‘Look West’ policy in bringing the two countries closer.
• Both countries are important regional partners linking South and Southeast Asia.
• They cooperate closely in the ASEAN, East Asia Summit (EAS) and BIMSTEC groupings as also Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC), Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA).
• The India-AESAN Agreement on Trade in Goods was implemented in January 2010 and the India-ASEAN FTA in Services and Investments was signed in September 2014 and came into force in July 2015.

Culture

• Cultural exchanges take place under the framework of a Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) between the two governments.
• An Indian Cultural centre was opened in Bangkok in September 2009.
• Cultural Agreement Programme for 2016-19 was signed during the visit of Thai PM to India in June 2016.
• A number of India Studies Centers are operational in prestigious Thai Universities.
• Regular visits of Indian cultural troupes are organized, in addition to Indian film and food festivals etc.

Indian Diaspora in Thailand:

• It is estimated that there are around 250,000 people of Indian origin in Thailand.
• Many of them have lived here for several generations over the past century. Majority of them hold Thai nationality.
• The Indian community mainly comprises Sikhs, Punjabis, Gorakhpuris, Tamils and Sindhis. Two persons of Indian origin from Thailand have been awarded the Pravasi Samman in 2006 and 2010.
• Thailand is working hard with India to link these two markets through India’s Northeastern region and Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar.
• However, beyond the much awaited India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway, modes of connectivity, particularly maritime and air, can also be utilized to their maximum potential

Military and Security relations

• The security relations between the two are constructive and mutually beneficial, covering the land, sea and air dimensions.
• There is also a common challenge in the fight against terrorism, narcotics and transnational organized crime.
• As an emerging power, India has a valuable role to play, together with other regional powers, in ASEAN and the greater Indo-Pacific.
• The ASEAN community of 625 million people is on the rise and is a worthy counterpart for the Indian market of 1.3 billion people.

Defence Cooperation

• Since 2015, India is participating in Ex-Cobra Gold, the largest Asia Pacific Military exercise as ‘Observer Plus’s category.
• Bilateral exercises are held annually between the armed forces of both countries.
• Exercise MAITREE (Army).
• Exercise SIAM BHARAT (Air Force).

The Indo-Thai relation today is not just looked upon from the angle of socio-cultural ties. Since the relation in today’s context has become very comprehensive in its scope. This bilateral engagement has the potential to foster growth not only restricted to the two nations but for the entire region.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

Prime Minister congratulated the Goa government for becoming the first state to be Har Ghar Jal certified, which means every household in the state had a piped water connection. 

In a virtual address, he said the Union Territories of Dadra Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu had achieved the feat as well.

Jal Jeevan Mission

• Jal Jeevan Mission, is envisioned to provide safe and adequate drinking water through individual household tap connection by 20204 to  all households in rural India.
• It is being implemented by the Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation under the Jal Shakti Ministry.

Key Features

• The mission implements source sustainability measures as mandatory elements, such as recharge and reuses through greywater management, water conservation, rainwater harvesting.
• The mission is based on a community approach to water and will include extensive Information, Education and communication as a key component of the mission.
• Water quality testing is one of the priority areas under the mission. It also looks to create a Jan Andolan for water thereby making it everyone’s priority.

Implementation

• Paani Samitis plan, implement, manage, operate and maintain village water supply systems.
• These consist of 10-15 members, with at least 50% women members and other members from Self-Help Groups, Accredited Social and Health Workers, Anganwadi teachers, etc.
• The committees prepare a one-time village action plan, merging all available village resources.
• The plan is approved in a Gram Sabha before implementation.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

India’s first portal on arrested narco offenders. It is part of the narcotics coordination mechanism (NCORD) portal that was launched by Union Home Minister.

• A first-of-its kind database of arrested narcotics offenders has been made operational for use by various central and State prosecution agencies tasked to enforce anti-drugs laws in the country.
• The portal NIDAAN or the National Integrated Database on Arrested Narco-offenders — has been developed by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB).
• It is part of the narcotics coordination mechanism (NCORD) portal that was launched by Union Home Minister in Chandigarh during the national conference on ‘Drug trafficking and national security’.
• The NIDAAN platform sources its data from the ICJS (inter-operable criminal justice system) and the e-Prisons (a cloud-based application) repository and it is planned to integrate it in the future with the crime and criminal tracking network system or CCTNS.
• The ICJS, an initiative of the Supreme Court e-committee, was created to enable seamless transfer of data and information among different pillars of the criminal justice system, like courts, police, jails and forensic science laboratories, from one platform.
• “NIDAAN is a one-stop solution for all narcotics offenders’ related data and will help investigative agencies as an effective tool to connect the dots while probing narcotics cases.
• The idea to create such a portal was to enhance the capability of all the law enforcement agencies working against drug crimes.
• NIDAAN hosts data about those accused who have been arrested and jailed for drugs offences and those who are “directly or indirectly involved in the produce, manufacture, possession, selling, purchase, transport, warehousing, usage, consumption, inter-state import and export, import into India, export from India or transhipment of any narcotics or psychotropic substance.
• The blueprint prepared for the operation and usage of the portal, any agency can search for the crime history, personal details, fingerprints, court cases and appeals made etc. with regard to a drug offender from any part of the country.
• A distinct feature called ‘criminal network’ on the portal can also be accessed by agencies, as part of which specific links of an accused to other crimes, linked police FIRs and those who visited them in jail can also be accessed.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

In eight years, this will be the first time the RBI would have let retail inflation slip beyond the upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent for three straight quarters.

• The Reserve Bank of India will call a special meeting of its Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) after October 12 to discuss a report it will have to submit to the Union government explaining the reasons for the average retail inflation remaining above the upper tolerance limit of 6 per cent for three consecutive quarters.
• The Union government, in consultation with the RBI, fixes the inflation target for the central bank every five years. 
• It had fixed it at 4 per cent plus/ minus 2 per cent (upper limit 6 per cent, lower limit 2 per cent) for the period August 5, 2016 to March 31, 2021, and retained it for the next five years ending March 31, 2026.
• A monetary policy framework was signed between then RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan (on behalf of the RBI) and then Finance Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi (on behalf of the President) on February 20, 2015. 
• The RBI Act, 1934, was amended in May 2016, giving effect to this framework agreement.
• The framework agreement requires the RBI to submit a report to the Union government if it is in breach of the inflation targets for three consecutive quarters. 
• The average retail inflation in January-March 2022 and April-June 2022, according to data released by the National Statistics Office, was 6.34 per cent and 7.28 per cent, respectively. 
• In July this year, it stood at 6.71 per cent. The data for August and September is scheduled to be released on September 12 and October 12, respectively.
• Upon failing to meet the inflation target, the RBI would have to state the reasons for failure to achieve the target, propose remedial actions to bring it down to 4 per cent, and also provide an estimate of the time-period within which the target would be achieved. 
• These would be presented in a report to the Union Ministry of Finance.
•  It would be up to the government to make the RBI report public. The special meeting of the MPC would discuss the RBI report before it is submitted.

Monetary Policy Committee (MPC)

• Under Section 45ZB of the amended RBI Act, 1934, the central government is empowered to constitute a six-member Monetary Policy Committee (MPC).
• The Section 45ZB lays down that “the Monetary Policy Committee shall determine the Policy Rate required to achieve the inflation target”.
• Section 45ZB says the MPC shall consist of 6 members:

Composition

• RBI Governor as its ex officio chairperson,
• Deputy Governor in charge of monetary policy,
• An officer of the Bank to be nominated by the Central Board,
• Three persons to be appointed by the central government.
• This category of appointments must be from “persons of ability, integrity and standing, having knowledge and experience in the field of economics or banking or finance or monetary policy”.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

NASA’s BioSentinel will carry microorganisms to deep space to help scientists better understand the effects of deep space radiation on biological lifeforms.

• NASA’s Artemis I mission is an uncrewed mission, there will be some living passengers on board. BioSentinel, a shoebox-sized CubeSat, will carry microorganisms in the form of yeast into deep space so that scientists can fill critical gaps in the knowledge about the health risks of radiation in deep space.
• The primary objective of BioSentinel is to monitor the vital signs of yeast to see how the microorganism fare when exposed to the radiation of deep space. 
• Yeast cells have biological mechanisms that are similar to human cells, including DNA damage and repair. 
• Due to this, scrutinising yeast in space will help us better understand the risks of space radiation to humans as the space agency plans missions to the Moon and beyond. 
• For this, BioSentinel will study yeast cell growth and metabolic activity after exposure to a high-radiation environment.
• BioSentinel is just one of the Artemis I mission’s ten secondary payloads that will hitch a ride to deep space. 
• All of these satellites are mounted in the Orion stage adapter on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. 
• They will be ejected into space to carry out science and technology investigations in deep space. 
• BioSentinel is the only satellite to carry a life science experiment.
• A key component of BioSentinel’s mission is a novel biosensor. 
• NASA refers to it as a “miniature biotechnology laboratory” that is designed to measure how living yeast cells respond to long-term space radiation exposure. 
• It has a set of microfluidic cars, which allows the controlled flow of extremely small volumes of liquids, to provide a habitat for yeast, along with a way for scientists to observe them in real-time.
• Alongside the biosensor, the BioSentinel will carry a radiation detector instrument which characterises and measures radiation.
• There is an identical set of specimens and instruments at NASA’s Ames Research Centre in Silicon Valley. The sets of data from space and the research centre will be compared to measure the yeasts’ response to different gravity and radiation environments.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

In his ninth Independence Day address to the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort, Prime Minister hailed “Nari Shakti”, and urged people to pledge to not do anything that lowers the dignity of women.

He also paid tribute to women freedom fighters for showing the world the true meaning of India’s “Nari Shakti”. A look at the women he named in his speech:

Rani Laxmibai

• The queen of the princely state of Jhansi, Rani Laxmibai is known for her role in the First War of India’s Independence in 1857. 
• Born Manikarnika Tambe in 1835, she married the king of Jhansi. 
• The couple adopted a son before the king’s death, which the British East India Company refused to accept as the legal heir and decided to annex Jhansi.
• Refusing to cede her territory, the queen decided to rule on behalf of the heir, and later joined the uprising against the British in 1857.
• Cornered by the British, she escaped from Jhansi fort. 
• She was wounded in combat near Gwalior’s Phool Bagh, where she later died. Sir Hugh Rose, who was commanding the British army, is known to have described her as “personable, clever…and one of the most dangerous Indian leaders”.

Jhalkari Bai

• A soldier in Rani Laxmibai’s women’s army, Durga Dal, she rose to become one of the queen’s most trusted advisers. 
• She is known for putting her own life at risk to keep the queen out of harm’s way. 
• Till date, the story of her valour is recalled by the people of Bundelkhand, and she is often presented as a representative of Bundeli identity.
• According to Ministry of Culture’s Amrit Mahotsav website, “Many Dalit communities of the region look up to her as an incarnation of God and also celebrate Jhalkaribai Jayanti every year in her honour.”

Durga Bhabhi

• Durgawati Devi, who was popularly known as Durga Bhabhi, was a revolutionary who joined the armed struggle against colonial rule. 
• A member of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha, she helped Bhagat Singh escape in disguise from Lahore after the 1928 killing of British police officer John P Saunders.
• During the train journey that followed, Durgawati and Bhagat Singh posed as a couple, and Rajguru as their servant. 
• Later, as revenge for the hanging of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev, she made an unsuccessful attempt to kill the former Punjab Governor, Lord Hailey.
• Born in Allahabad in 1907 and married to Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA) member Bhagwati Charan Vohra, Durgawati, along with other revolutionaries, also ran a bomb factory in Delhi.

Rani Gaidinliu

• Born in 1915 in present-day Manipur, Rani Gaidinliu was a Naga spiritual and political leader who fought the British.
• She joined the Heraka religious movement which later became a movement to drive out the British. 
• She rebelled against the Empire, and refused to pay taxes, asking people to do the same. 
• The British launched a manhunt, but she evaded arrest, moving from village to village.
• Gaidinliu was finally arrested in 1932 when she was just 16, and later sentenced for life. She was released in 1947. 
• Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, according to the Amrit Mahotsav website, described Gaidinliu as the “daughter of the hills”, and gave her the title of ‘Rani’ for her courage.

Rani Chennamma

• The queen of Kittur, Rani Chennamma, was among the first rulers to lead an armed rebellion against British rule. Kittur was a princely state in present-day Karnataka.
• She fought back against the attempt to control her dominion in 1824 after the death of her young son. 
• She had lost her husband, Raja Mallasarja, in 1816. She is seen among the few rulers of the time who understood the colonial designs of the British.
• Rani Chennamma defeated the British in her first revolt, but was captured and imprisoned during the second assault by the East India Company.

Begum Hazrat Mahal

• After her husband, Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah, was exiled after the 1857 revolt, Begum Hazrat Mahal, along with her supporters, took on the British and wrested control of Lucknow. 
• She was forced into a retreat after the colonial rulers recaptured the area.

Velu Nachiyar

• Many years before the revolt of 1857, Velu Nachiyar waged a war against the British and emerged victorious. 
• Born in Ramanathapuram in 1780, she was married to the king of Sivagangai. 
• After her husband was killed in battle with the East India Company, she entered the conflict, and won with support of neighbouring kings.
• She went on to produce the first human bomb as well as establish the first army of trained women soldiers in the late 1700s,” says the Amrit Mahotsav website. 
• Her army commander Kuyili is believed to have set herself ablaze and walked into a British ammunition dump. 
• She was succeeded by her daughter in 1790, and died a few years later in 1796.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 1

Hyderabad-based Creasent Handicraft Artisans Welfare Association has filed an application for securing a Geographical Indications tag for lac bangles that are manufactured in the city. 

• The Geographical Indications Registry, Chennai has accepted the application and the coveted tag may add to the lustre of the bangles which is a favourite of tourists and are part of the trousseau for brides from the city.
• The GI tag helps in easy identification of a product based on the area of production. 
• It adds to the marketing muscle of the unique product. 
• GI tag will pave a way to brand the Hyderabad Lac Bangles better in India and abroad. 
• The lac bangles can be seen in the shops that line the Laad Bazaar area near Charminar shimmering with mirror work and encrusted precious stones. 
• They are handcrafted in the homes by an army of workers who use molten lac and shape them into bangles and turn them into speckled shimmering wonders.

GI in Telangana State

• Hyderabad Haleem
• Warangal Durries
• Nirmal Toys
• Karimnagar filigree
• Pochampally Ikat 

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The Centre has announced raising the allocation under the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) by Rs 50,000 crore to Rs 5 lakh crore.

• As per data by the government and banks, loans of about Rs 3.67 lakh crore have been sanctioned under ECLGS till August 5, and Rs 2.54 lakh crore had been disbursed till April 30. 
• The ECLGS was unveiled as part of the comprehensive package announced by the government in March 2020 to aid the MSME sector in view of the economic distress caused by the Covid pandemic and lockdowns.
• The tourism sector was one of the worst hit, as people postponed/cancelled their business and leisure travel plans. 
• With high immunisation levels, progressive roll-back of restrictions and overall economic recovery, conditions are in place for sustained growth in demand for these sectors as well. 
• This additional guarantee cover is expected to support the recovery of these sectors as well.

Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS):

• Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme(ECLGS) launched as part of the Covid-19 relief package called the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
• The aim is to provide Rs 3 lakh crore worth of collateral-free, government guaranteed loans to micro, small and medium enterprises(MSMEs) across India. Further, it aims to mitigate the distress caused by the coronavirus-induced lockdown.
• National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company(NCGTC) is the guarantee provider under the ECLGS scheme.

Objective

To provide fully guaranteed and collateral free additional credit to MSMEs, business enterprises, MUDRA borrowers and individual loans for business purposes to the extent of 20% of their credit outstanding as on 29th February, 2020.

• 100% guarantee coverage is being provided by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company, whereas Banks and Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) provide loans.
• Eligibility: Borrowers with credit outstanding up to Rs. 50 crore as on 29th February, 2020, and with an annual turnover of up to Rs. 250 crore are eligible under the Scheme.
• On 1st August, 2020 the government widened the scope of the Rs. 3 lakh crore-ECLGS scheme by doubling the upper ceiling of loans outstanding and including certain loans given to professionals like doctors, lawyers and chartered accountants for business purposes under its ambit.
• Tenor of loans provided under the Scheme is four years, including a moratorium of one year on principal repayment.
• Interest rates under the Scheme are capped at 9.25% for Banks and Financial Institutions (FIs), and 14% for NBFCs.

Benefits of the Scheme

• The scheme is expected to provide credit to the sector at a low cost, thereby enabling MSMEs to meet their operational liabilities and restart their businesses and recover early.
• The Scheme is expected to have a positive impact on the economy and support its revival.

National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd (NCGTC) 

• It was set up by the Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India to, inter alia, to act as a common trustee company to manage and operate various credit guarantee trust funds.
• NCGTC was incorporated under the Indian Companies Act, 1956 in 2014 with a paid up capital of ₹10 crore, with its registered office at Bandra (East), Mumbai.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

Due to global warming, any change in the surface air temperature and the net radiation balance tends to produce larger changes at the north and south poles. These changes are more pronounced at the northern latitudes and are known as the Arctic amplification.

• On August 11, Finnish Meteorological Institute researchers published their study in the Communications Earth & Environment journal, concluding that the Arctic is heating four times faster than the rest of the planet. 
• The warming is more concentrated in the Eurasian part of the Arctic, where the Barents Sea north of Russia and Norway is warming at an alarming rate seven times faster than the global average.

What is Arctic Amplification? What causes it?

• Global warming, the long-term heating of the earth’s surface, hastened due to anthropogenic forces or human activities since pre-industrial times and has increased the planet’s average temperature by 1.1 degrees Celsius. 
• While changes are witnessed across the planet, any change in the surface air temperature and the net radiation balance tend to produce larger changes at the north and south poles. 
• This phenomenon is known as polar amplification; these changes are more pronounced at the northern latitudes and are known as the Arctic amplification.
• Among the many global warming-driven causes for this amplification, the ice-albedo feedback, lapse rate feedback, water vapour feedback and ocean heat transport are the primary causes. 
• Sea ice and snow have high albedo (measure of reflectivity of the surface), implying that they are capable of reflecting most of the solar radiation as opposed to water and land. 
• In the Arctic’s case, global warming is resulting in diminishing sea ice. As the sea ice melts, the Arctic Ocean will be more capable of absorbing solar radiation, thereby driving the amplification. 
• The lapse rate or the rate at which the temperature drops with elevation decreases with warming. 
• Studies show that the ice-albedo feedback and the lapse rate feedback are responsible for 40% and 15% of polar amplification respectively.

What are the consequences of Arctic Warming?

• The causes and consequences of Arctic amplification are cyclical what might be a cause can be a consequence too.
• The Greenland ice sheet is melting at an alarming rate, and the rate of accumulation of sea ice has been remarkably low since 2000, marked by young and thinner ice replacing the old and thicker ice sheets. 
• The Greenland ice sheet saw a sharp spike in the rate and extent of melting between July 15-17 this year. 
• The unusual summer temperatures resulted in a melt of 6 billion tonnes of ice sheet per day, amounting to a total of 18 billion tonnes in a span of three days, enough to cover West Virginia in a foot of water.
• Greenlandic ice sheet holds the second largest amount of ice, after Antarctica, and therefore it is crucial for maintaining the sea level. 
• In 2019, this was the single biggest cause for the rise in the sea level, about 1.5 metres. 
• If the sheet melts completely, the sea level would rise by seven metres, capable of subsuming island countries and major coastal cities.
• The warming of the Arctic Ocean and the seas in the region, the acidification of water, changes in the salinity levels, are impacting the biodiversity, including the marine species and the dependent species. 
• The warming is also increasing the incidence of rainfall which is affecting the availability and accessibility of lichens to the reindeer.
• The Arctic amplification is causing widespread starvation and death among the Arctic fauna.
• The permafrost in the Arctic is thawing and in turn releasing carbon and methane which are among the major greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. 
• Experts fear that the thaw and the melt will also release the long-dormant bacteria and viruses that were trapped in the permafrost and can potentially give rise to diseases.

What is the impact on India?

• In recent years, scientists have pondered over the impact the changing Arctic can have on the monsoons in the subcontinent. The link between the two is growing in importance due to the extreme weather events the country faces, and the heavy reliance on rainfall for water and food security.
• A study titled ‘A possible relation between Arctic sea ice and late season Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall extremes’ published in 2021 by a group of Indian and Norwegian scientists found that the reduced sea ice in the Barents-Kara sea region can lead to extreme rainfall events in the latter half of the monsoons in September and October. 
• The changes in the atmospheric circulation due to diminishing sea ice combined with the warm temperatures in the Arabian Sea contribute to enhanced moisture and drive extreme rainfall events. 
• In 2014, India deployed IndARC, India’s first moored-underwater observatory in the Kongsfjorden fjord, Svalbard, to monitor the impact of the changes in the Arctic Ocean on the tropical processes such as the monsoons.
• According to the World Meteorological Organization’s report,‘State of Global Climate in 2021’, sea level along the Indian coast is rising faster than the global average rate. One of the primary reasons for this rise is the melting of sea ice in the polar regions, especially the Arctic. 

The Arctic amplification furthers the idea that “what happens in the Arctic does not remain in the Arctic” and can substantially affect tropical processes far south.

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

India has taken rapid strides in reducing child mortality since 2014 from 45 per 1,000 live births to 35 per 1,000 live births in 2019.

• Union Minister of State for Health virtual launch of the ‘Paalan 1000’ National Campaign and Parenting App at the Early Childhood Development Conclave in Mumbai.
• Paalan 1000’ focuses on the cognitive development of children in the first two years of their life. 
• The app will provide practical advice to caregivers on what they can do in their everyday routine and will help clear doubts.
• A baby’s brain development begins during pregnancy and is influenced by the pregnant woman’s health, nutrition and environment.
• The first 1,000 days encompasses conception as well as the first two years of a growing child’s life and during this period, the child needs the right nutrition, stimulation, love and support. 
• The first 1,000 days establishes a solid platform for a child’s physical, mental, emotional, cognitive and social health.
• The app combines coaching for parents, families and other caregivers with services designed to meet the families’ basic needs.
• The programme is aligned with the mission of the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), emphasising responsive care and focused interventions during the first 1,000 days.