Religion Based Data of 2011 Census Released
- The Muslim population in India grew by 24.6% between .2001 and 2011 while the decadal population growth for Hindus stood at 16.8% during the same period. Their State-wise decadal growth rate was also higher than that of Hindus in all 35 States and Union Territories in 2001-11.
- The 2001-11 decadal growth rate for total population was 17.7%. Over this period, Christians grew by 15.5%; Sikhs by 8.4%, Jains by 5.4% and Buddhists by 6.1%. Those stating other religions and persuasions grew by 19.6% in the 10 years preceding 2011.
- This religion based data during 2001-2011 was released by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner on August 25, 2015. The total population of India as per Census 2011 is 121.09 crore of which 96.63 crore are Hindus, 17.22 crore are Muslims, 2.78 crore are Christians, 2.08 crore are Sikhs, Buddhists 84 lakh, Jains 45 lakh and other religions.
‘SEHAT’ Unique Initiative for Health Care Launched
- Union Minister for Information Technology and Telecom, Ravi Shankar Prasad launched an unique telemedicine initiative for health care in India i.e., ‘SEHAT’ on August 25, 2015 in collaboration with Apollo Hospitals.
- It is an initiative in furtherance to government’s commitment to empower rural citizens in having access to information, knowledge, skills and other services in various sectors through the intervention of digital technologies and fulfilling the vision of a ‘Digital India’.
Read Also – National News – Current Affairs Study Material (Part 2).
‘Start-up India; Stand-up India’ Campaign Launched
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on August 15, 2015 a new campaign ‘Start-up India; Stand up India’ to promote bank financing for start-ups and offer incentives.
- The Prime Minister announced the ‘Start-up India’ initiative, which would encourage entrepreneurship among the youth of India.
- The Prime Minister also spoke of the welfare schemes launched by the his government, including Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Yojana, and the schemes launched for labour welfare.
Government Launched Education Loan Portal
- The Union government has a launched a website named vidyalakshmi.co.in, on August 15, 2015 for students seeking educational loans. Five banks including SBI, IDBI Bank and Bank of India have integrated their system with this portal.
- The portal has been developed and maintained by NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited (NSDL e-Gov) under the guidance of Department of Financial Services, Finance Ministry, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development and Indian Banks Association (IBA).
Union Government Launched Rs 200 Crore Scheme for Agro-industry
- The government launched a Rs 200 crore scheme on August 18, 2015 to set-up a network of technology and incubation centres to accelerate entrepreneurship and promote start-ups for innovation and entrepreneurship in agro-industry.
- The scheme is designed to provide necessary skill set for setting-up business enterprises and also to facilitate the market linkages available to entrepreneurs and to provide hand holding for a critical period to ensure self sustainability.
- The scheme envisages creation of funds of Rs 60 crore for start-up promotion through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) by using innovative means of finance like equity, quasi-equity, angel fund, venture capital fund, impact funds and challenge funds.
MHA Announced to Set-up National Fingerprint Database
- The Home Ministry has decided on August 17, 2015 to establish a national fingerprint database of nearly 28 lakh convicts and those arrested for criminal offences, by collating records from all the States.
- The move is expected to aid in the speedy identification of criminals and investigation of crimes accross the country. The home ministry has also now decided to migrate the records from the State bureaus and make them part of the national database. The National Informatics Centre is creating a ‘cloud’ for this integration.
- The Ministry is also considering a proposal to integrate the finger print data with other biometric techniques like digital images, palm prints and auxiliary biometric like Iris records in future. Gujarat has the biggest database of fingerprints with nearly 12 lakh records, while Andhra Pradesh has 5.3 lakh records and Madhya Pradesh 3 lakh records.
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