Health ministry proposes amendments in NMC Act; new board to conduct NExT exam

Health ministry proposes amendments in NMC Act; new board to conduct NExT exam

• The Union health ministry has proposed merging the existing National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBES) as an autonomous board under the National Medical Commission, which will also be in charge of conducting the NExT exam. 
• The ministry has also proposed amendments to the existing NMC Act as part of which all cases by medical colleges in matters related to the National Medical Commission (NMC) should be jurisdiction of the high court of Delhi instead of the current practice of filing pleas in high courts in different states.
• Since NBES is also giving degrees under the Diplomate of National Board (DNB) and NMC under the Doctor of Medicine (MD) or Master's in Surgery (MS), it was felt that keeping them under one regulatory control will lead to better and standardised medical education in PG courses, an official said.
• The draft bill also proposes incorporating a provision in the parent Act that jurisdiction in the cases filed by medical colleges/institutions in matters related to NMC shall be Delhi High Court only.

Election Commission Launches ‘Mission-929’ to Take Voter Turnout in Tripura to over 90%

• The Election Commission (EC) is focusing on 929 polling booths across Tripura, setting a target of 92 per cent voter turnout in the assembly elections due early this year. 
• These booths recorded a voter turnout of less than 89 per cent, which was the average across 3,328 booths in the 2018 assembly polls. The EC is also working on ‘Mission Zero Poll Violence’ to make the assembly elections peaceful.
• The Election commission plans to launch an awareness campaign, poll officials will visit senior citizens and persons with disability, and appeal to them to cast their votes.
• The ECI will make requisite arrangements such as ramps, wheelchairs and separate queues will be arranged at every polling station to felicitate senior citizens and persons with disability. 
• The Tripura Legislative Assembly has 60 seats. The election to constitute the 12th Legislative Assembly of Tripura was held on 18 February 2018.

Siachen’s Kumar Post gets first woman Army officer

• Captain Shiva Chauhan has become the first woman army officer to get operationally deployed on the Siachen Glacier, the world’s highest battlefield.
• The officer was deployed at the Kumar post, located at an altitude of around 15,600 feet in Siachen, on Monday for a period of three months after she underwent rigorous training.
• Captain Chouhan will be leading the team of Sappers entrusted with the task of carrying out various combat engineering assignments. 
• The officer underwent rigorous training at the Siachen Battle School where she trained alongside the officers and men of the Indian Army. The training included endurance training, ice wall climbing, avalanche and crevasse rescue and survival drills, they said.

9 lakh beneficiaries to get free 5kg rice a month till Dec 2023 in Odisha

• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that nearly 9.05 lakh beneficiaries of the State Food Security Scheme (SFSS) will receive 5 kg of rice per month free of cost for the next 12 months.
• The initiative, to begin on January 23, will entail a total expenditure of Rs 185 crore which will be met by the state exchequer, an official release issued by the Chief Minister’s Office said. 
• The state government has been distributing 5 kg of rice per person per month to the left-out eligible beneficiaries of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) but covered under the ‘State Food Security Scheme’ at Re 1 per kg since October 2018.
• The SFSS was launched on Gandhi Jayanti in 2018 to cover those who have been left out of the NFSA.
• The beneficiaries of the SFSS have also been provided with additional rice and pulses during the last 28 months in the state. Besides, Rs 1,000 cash incentive was also given to each family under NFSA and the SFSS twice during the pandemic period.
• The Centre announced in December 2022 that it will bear the expenses of free food grains under the NFSA till December 2023.