Current Affairs 20 May 2020

Government implements Shekatkar Committee recommendations 

• Government has accepted and implemented three important recommendations of Committee of Experts (CoE) under the Chairmanship of Lt General D B Shekatkar (Retd) relating to border Infrastructure. 
• These were related to speeding up road construction, leading to socio economic development in the border areas.
• On the matter related to creating border infrastructure, the Government has implemented recommendation of CoE to outsource road construction work beyond optimal capacity of Border Roads Organisation (BRO). 
• It has been made mandatory to adopt Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) mode for execution of all works costing more than Rs 100 crore.

About Shekatkar Committee :- 

• The military reforms committee – under Lt General (retd.) DB Shekatkar – was set up by then Raksha Mantri Manohar Parrikar in 2015.
• The committee was established with a mandate for Enhancing Combat Capability and Rebalancing Defence Expenditure.
• Shekatkar Committee had made recommendations on enhancing the combat potential of India’s three armed forces, rationalizing the defence budget etc.
• The committee submitted its report on December 21, 2016. It had apparently exceeded its brief with some 200 recommendations.
• A major recommendation is that the defence budget should be 2.5% to 3% of the GDP.

6 Cities rated 5 Star, 65 Cities rated 3 Star and 70 Cities rated 1 Star

• Shri Hardeep S, Puri, Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs, hs informed that for the assessment year 2019-2020, a total of six cities have been certified as 5-Star (Ambikapur, Rajkot, Surat, Mysuru, Indore and Navi Mumbai), 65 cities as 3-Star and 70 cities as 1-Star. 
• While announcing the results of the Star Rating of Garbage Free Cities, Shri Puri also launched the revised protocol for the Star Rating of Garbage Free Cities at the event. 
• The Star Rating Protocol was launched by the Ministry in January 2018 to institutionalize a mechanism for cities to achieve Garbage Free status, and to motivate cities to achieve higher degrees of cleanliness. 
• Since its launch in 2014, Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) has made significant progress in the area of both sanitation and solid waste management. 
• Today, 4324 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) have been declared ODF (4204 certified ODF), 1306 cities certified ODF+ and 489 cities certified ODF++.  
• Moreover, 66 lakhs individual household toilets and over 6 lakhs community/ public toilets have been constructed/ or are under construction. 
• In the area of solid waste management, 96% of wards have 100% door-to door collection while 65% of the total waste generated is being processed.

Army proposes 3-year stint for civilians

• There are many who want to be a “personnel in uniform” and experience the military life but did not want a full career in the Army. For them, in a game changer move, our Indian army is considering a proposal to allow civilians, including young working professionals, to join the force for 3 years as officers and in other ranks (ORs) in areas like logistics and front-line formations under the “Tour of Duty” or “Three-Year Short Service” Scheme.
• If this proposal gets approved, it will be a voluntary engagement and will not affect the current selection criteria.
• Initially, 100 officers and 1,000 men are being considered for recruitment.
• The key criteria under this scheme will be age and fitness, among others.