The Best Academy for IAS & TNPSC Exams April - …...The Best Academy for IAS & TNPSC Exams Vetrii IAS Study Circle ISO 9001 : 2015 Main Office @ Anna Nagar (E), Chennai - 102. Phone:

The Best Academy for IAS & TNPSC Exams

Vetrii IAS Study Circle

Vetrii IAS Study Circle

ISO 9001 : 2015

Main Office @

Anna Nagar (E), Chennai - 102.

Phone: 044-2626536 / 96001 24042 / 98400 97666

VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE

Branch Office @

No. 189/1, Meyanoor Road, Near ARRS Multiplex,

Opp. Venkateshwara Complex, Salem - 4

Phone: 0427 - 2330307 / 94427 40307 / 95001 22022

VETRII IAS STUDY CIRCLE

April - 2018

CURRENT AFFAIRS

UPSCFOR

CONTENTS PAGE:5 - 28 INTERNATIONAL / BILATERAL 114th Permanent Indus Commission Meeting Held In Delhi India, Canada To Promote Innovation Through Talent MobilityWorld Health Day - 7th April India To Build Strategic Railway Link Between Kathmandu And Raxaul In Bihar India, Nepal To Develop Inland Waterways For Cargo Movement India Signs MOU With World Expo 2020 DubaiSingapore, China Ink MOU For Collaboration On Belt And Road InitiativeMOU Between India And The United Kingdom And Northern Ireland On The Return Of Illegal

MigrantsUnited Nations Launches UN Road Safety Trust FundUs Adds India To The Currency Practices And Macroeconomic Policies Monitoring ListUnited Nations Launches UN Road Safety Trust FundUs Adds India To The Currency Practices And Macroeconomic Policies Monitoring ListUs Puts India On Currency Watch List India And World Bank Sign A Loan Agreement Of $48 Million For Meghalaya India - Wiesbaden Conference 2018 Held In New DelhiApril 19: World Liver DayCommonwealth Innovation Index 2018 India Pitches For Independent Brics Credit Rating Agency 22nd April – Earth Day 6th Ions (Indian Ocean Naval Symposium) – Ions 2018World Bank: India Highest Recipient Of Remittances In 2017 India – World Bank Loan Agreement For “Innovate In India For Inclusiveness Project” India Ranks 138th In World Press Freedom Index 2018 India-china Informal Summit In Wuhan CSIR Wins National Intellectual Property (Ip) Award 2018 Peace Mission: India, Pakistan For First Time To Participate Together In SCO Counter-terror

Exercise

29 - 35 INFRASTRUCTURENhai Signs Agreement For Its First International ProjectUniform Road Tax Structure For Vehicles Across India: GOM PM Launches Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan PM Modi Launches Van Dhan SchemeNITI Aayog Launches Atal New India Challenge Under Atal Innovation MissionGovernment Launches Pilot Scheme Procurement Of Aggregate Power Of 2500 MW For Three

Years

36- 54 INDIAN POLITY AND GOVERNANCE 97.05 Lakh Subscribers Base Under Atal Pension Yojana 120 Castes/communities Notified In Central Obc List In Last 3 Years: GovernmentCabinet Approves Protection Of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018Government To Launch Gobar Dhan Yojana Nationally From Haryana Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana Launched In New Delhi ITI Forum For Northeast To MeetE-aadhaar Gets Digitally-signed Qr Code With PhotoCJI Bench On CJI: First Among Equals, Power To Allocate WorkE-FRRO Scheme LaunchedGovernment Launches Gram Swaraj Abhiyan First Regional Conference Of Eastern States On Water Resources Held In KolkataGovernment Launches Darpan-pli AppCivil Services Day Event Inaugurated By Vice President Integration Of E-sanad Portal And Nad (National Academic Depository)Govt. Launches Central Project Monitoring Unit For E-vidhan Project At ParliamentGovernment To Roll Out Integrated Initiative For Prevention & Control Of Viral HepatitisRashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan: Ccea Approves Restructured Centrally Sponsored SchemeCabinet Approves Declaration Of Scheduled Areas In Rajasthan Under Fifth Schedule 2nd Edition Of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan Launched By Hrd Ministry

55 - 71 ECONOMY

India Receives First LNG Consignment From United States India Becomes World’s Second Largest Mobile Phone ProducerMulti Modal Logistic Park At Balli Inaugurated India Ranks 37th In Global Startup Ecosystem In 2017Government Launches Digital Initiative For Ease Of ExportsSebi Eases Algorithm Trade Rules In Commodity Exchanges India Becomes Second Largest Manufacturer Of Crude SteelRBI Constitutes Inter-departmental Group To Study Launching Offiat Digital CurrencyRBI Switches Back To GDP Model From Gva Model To Measure Economy 11 Public Sector Banks Placed Under RBI’s PCA FrameworkGlobal Economic Freedom Index 2018: India Ranks 130 India’s Economy To Grow 7.3% In 2018-19 And 7.6% In 2019-20: ADB Outlook India’s Forex Reserves At Record High Of $424.864 Billion: RbiAiib To Invest $140 Million To Improve Rural ConnectivityWorld Bank: India’s Gdp Growth To Be 7.3% For 2018-19Centre Raises Nabard Authorised Capital To Rs 300 Billion India Is World’s Sixth Largest Economy At $2.6 Trillion, Says ImfBis Grants 1st License For Liquid Chlorine On All India Basis

72 - 82 ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES Delhi Becomes First City To Roll-out BS-VI Fuel Fimbristylis Agasthyamalaensis: New Plant Species Discovered Inwestern Ghats India At Risk Of Food Shortage Due To Climate Change International Energy Forum In New DelhiEarth’s Bedrock: New Source Of Global Nitrogen DiscoveredEnvironment Ministry Releases Draft Of National Clean Air ProgrammeSunderban Reserve Forest To Get Ramsar Site Status

Cabinet Approves Restructured National Bamboo MissionUNCCD – Asia Pacific Regional Workshop Held

83 - 95 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY ISRO Losses Contact With Communication Satellite GSAT-6ATiangong-1: China’s Space Lab Plummets To Earth, Burns Up Over Pacific OceanTRAI Proposes Wi-fi Grid To Bring Down Cost Of Internet By 90% Indian Origin Scientist Develops World’s First Micro Factory For E-waste PSLV-C41 Successfully Launches Irnss-1i Navigation Satellite India’s First High-speed Electric Locomotive Of 12000hp Capacity Launched IIT-DELHI Installs India’s First 5g LabGovernment Constitutes 13 Member Task Force For Fast-tracking Implementation Of UAV

Technology Indian Mobile Congress To Be Held In New Delhi Indian Mosquitoes Susceptible To Zika Virus: NIV StudyScientists Identify Four Bacterial Strains To Remove Sulphur From Fossil FuelsExoplanet-hunting Telescope Tess Launch By NASA

95 - 96 SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NDMA To Conduct Multi-state Earthquake Mock Exercise In North East

97 - 109 DEFENCE & INTERNAL SECURITYMOU Between Indian Army And HDFC BankSAHYOG-Hyeoblyeog 2018: India, South Korea Joint Anti-piracy, Search And Rescue ExerciseDRDO At Defexpo 2018: Exhibiting The Technology MightBoeing, Hal, Mahindra Tie Up To Build F/a-18 Super Hornet Fighter Jet In India IAF Conducts War Exercise “Gagan Shakti”GOVT. Forms Defence Planning Committee (DPC)AFSPA Revoked In Meghalaya, Parts Of Arunachal LCU L53: Indian Navy Inducts Third Landing Craft Utility At Port Blair MHA To Relax Protected Area Permit Regime From Nagaland, Miz Ram, Manipur LCA Tejas Successfully Fired An Air-to-air BUR MissileAcquisition Of NAG Missile System

110 - 110 SPORTS CWG 2018 Conclusion : India At No. 3

111 - 112 ART AND CULTURE

Two Unknown Languages Walmiki And Malhar Discovered

Adopt A Heritage Project” – Dalmia Bharat Adopts Red Fort

113 - 112 AGRICULTURE

Government Inks Agreement With World Bank For Maharashtra Project For Climate Resilient Agriculture

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April - 2018

UPSC CURRENT AFFAIRS

INTERNATIONAL / BILATERAL

114TH PERMANENT INDUS COMMISSION MEETING HELD IN DELHI

What Is It?

The 114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) between India and Pakistan was held in New Delhi. Representatives from both sides discussed Indus Water Treaty (IWT) dispute and resolution of outstanding issues.

India’s Indus water commissioner PK Saxena, technical experts and a representative of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) will be part of the Indian delegation for the annual meeting. Pakistan’s six-member delegation will be led by Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah.

The meeting will take place in the backdrop of the continuing tension between the two countries over a host of issues, including the alleged harassment of diplomats.

Pakistan contends that Ratle (850 MW), Pakal Dul (1000 MW) and Lower Kalnai (48 MW) projects -- located in the Chenab basin -- were violating the IWT, signed in 1960.

But India is very clear that designs of the projects are in accordance with the treaty.

The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) was signed in 1960. It covers the water distribution and sharing rights of six rivers of Indus river system viz, Beas, Ravi, Sutlej, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum.

The treaty specifies that waters from three western rivers viz. Indus, Jhelum and Chenab are reserved for Pakistan, while waters from eastern rivers viz. Ravi, Sutlej and Beas are for reserved for India.


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The PIC is established mechanism under IWT. Its mandate is to establish and maintain cooperative arrangements for implementation of water distribution pact and promote cooperation in development of Indus water systems between India and Pakistan.

The meeting of PIC is held alternately in India and Pakistan at least once every year as mandated by treaty. The PIC had last met in Islamabad in March 2017.

Source: PIB.

•••••••INDIA, CANADA TO PROMOTE INNOVATION THROUGH TALENT MOBILITY

What Is It? was apprised of an agreement between India and Canada to promote collaboration in research and innovation through talent mobility.

“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aims at fostering cross-border partnerships focused on research excellence and industry-academic collaboration between India and Canada that brings robust innovation gains to both countries.

The core of the MoU is to ignite collaboration through talent mobility. It would enable Indian and Canadian researchers to undertake graduate level academic research mobility and cross-border industry-academic cooperation.

“Under the graduate level academic research mobility programme, both sides intend to support up to 110 Master’s and PhD student researchers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields.

The students from eligible universities in India would participate in 12 to 24 weeks’ research with Canadian university research laboratories in a three-year period. The same number of researchers from Canadian universities will also participate for the same period in India.

“Under the cross-border Industry-Academic Cooperation, up to 40 Master’s and PhD student researchers in three years from each side would participate in 16 to 24 weeks’ research with industry partners located in the counterpart country

The collaboration is expected to lead to new knowledge creation, joint scientific publications, industrial exposure, IP generation and others.

This MoU will further strengthen the long-standing relationship in Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation with Canada.

Source: PIB, Business Standard

•••••••


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WORLD HEALTH DAY - 7TH APRIL

What Is It?

The World Health Day (WHD) is observed every year on 7 April to mark anniversary of founding of World Health Organization (WHO) on this day in 1948.

Observance of the day focuses on disseminating knowledge and awareness about human health, increasing life expectancy by adding good health to lives of people and promoting healthier living habits across globe.

The day also provides with unique opportunity to mobilize action around specific health topic of concern to people all over the world.

The theme for year 2018 is “Universal Health Coverage: Health For All’. It aims to ensure that everyone everywhere should have access to essential quality of health services and should not experience any financial hardship while getting quality medical service.

It seeks to provide an opportunity for UHC (Universal Health Care) 2030 partners to accelerate progress towards universal health coverage.

The WHO annually marks World Health Day on 7 April to celebrate its founding in 1948. On this day in 1948, the first World Health Assembly was held Geneva, Switzerland.

The World Health Assembly decided to celebrate 7 April of each year with effect from 1950 as the World Health Day.

World Health Day is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by WHO along with World Tuberculosis Day, World Immunization Week, World Malaria Day, World No Tobacco Day, World AIDS Day, World Blood Donor Day, and World Hepatitis Day.

Source: PIB

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INDIA TO BUILD STRATEGIC RAILWAY LINK BETWEEN KATHMANDU AND RAXAUL IN BIHAR

What Is It?

India will build a strategic railway link between Raxaul in Bihar and Kathmandu in Nepal to facilitate people-to-people contact and bulk movement of goods.

The announcement was made today after delegation-level talks between Indian and Nepalese officials chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart K P Sharma Oli, who is on a three-day visit.

The stretch of railway lines from Jayanagar to Janakpur/Kurtha and from Jogbani to Biratnagar Custom Yard will be completed in 2018, and that work on the remaining stretch of the ongoing rail link projects- Jayanagar-Bijalpura-Bardibas and Jogbani-Biratnagar - will be taken forward on priority.

The proposal to link Raxaul to Kathamandu gains significance as it comes nearly two years after China, in March 2016, agreed to construct a strategic railway link with Nepal through Tibet with an apparent aim of reducing Kathmandu’s dependence on India.

It also comes in the backdrop of recent Chinese linkages with Nepal as it took on building three highways to be completed by 2020. The two countries have recently also signed a transit treaty.

This agreement also comes years after a sense of mistrust had prevailed when certain sections in Nepal blamed India for the 135-day blockade in 2015 - 2016 that had crippled Nepal’s economy.

Source: Business Standard

•••••••INDIA, NEPAL TO DEVELOP INLAND WATERWAYS FOR CARGO MOVEMENT

What Is It?

India and Nepal today agreed to boost cooperation in the connectivity sector as the two sides decided to develop inland waterways for cargo movement, within the framework of trade and transit arrangements.

Both countries recognised untapped potential of inland waterways to contribute towards overall economic development of the region.


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They took cognisance of their geographies and held that development of inland waterways in both countries for movement of cargo, within framework of trade and transit arrangements, will provide additional access to sea for landlocked Nepal.

This new initiative would enable cost-effective and efficient movement of cargo and adds enormous impact to the additional connectivity on the growth of business and economy of Nepal.

Both countries will formulate and mutually agree upon requisite procedures and modalities for including inland waterways as additional means of transport the Protocol to Treaty of Transit between India and Nepal.

Source: TOI

•••••••INDIA SIGNS MOU WITH WORLD EXPO 2020 DUBAI

What Is It?

India and World Expo 2020 signed participants contract today for India’s pavilion in the prestigious World Expo 2020 held once in 5 years.

The contract provides for the setting up of India pavilion at Expo 2020 on an extra large plot (about one acre) in the ‘Opportunity’ segment.

This is tune with the great opportunity for economic activity that India provides today on the way to becoming a $5 trillion economy by 2025.

Focus will be given to India’s advances in Space, Pharma, IT, Renewable Energy, Telecom sectors.


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The pavilion will be developed in public-private partnership mode. Leading industries and businesses will work with Central government and State governments to participate in India’s pavilion.

A number of state governments, various ministries of central government and major industry associations and businesses have shown interest in partnering and participating in World Expo 2020 which will take place for six months beginning October 2020.

Source: PIB

•••••••SINGAPORE, CHINA INK MOU FOR COLLABORATION ON BELT AND

ROAD INITIATIVEWhat Is It?

Singapore and China inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Sunday (Apr 8) to promote greater collaboration between companies from both countries in third-party markets along the Belt and Road routes.

The group will identify sectors and markets of mutual interest, organise business-matching activities and forums to facilitate third-party market cooperation between Singapore and Chinese companies under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Both countries will also work with commercial and policy banks, insurers and financial institutions to support the financing and project structuring needs of third-party market ventures by companies from both sides.

This MOU will pave the way for closer partnerships between our companies in third-party markets, one of the key cooperation pillars that Singapore and China have identified under the Belt and Road Initiative.

Singapore’s strength as a key infrastructure, financial and legal hub in the region will add value to Chinese companies expanding along the Belt and Road.

Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)

BRI is an ambitious China’s ambitious development strategy and framework that aims to boost its connectivity and trade that will that will connect Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe.

It was proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. It comprises two compo-nents viz. the Silk Road economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.


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The initiative is part of China’s revived 21st century Silk Road diplomacy that seeks to push it to take a bigger role in global affairs as a major global power.

It is basically investment and trade promotion scheme aiming to deepen economic connections between China and rest of the world.

Source: ET

•••••••MOU BETWEEN INDIA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM AND NORTHERN

IRELAND ON THE RETURN OF ILLEGAL MIGRANTSWhat Is It?

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has given its approval to the MoU between India and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland on the return of Illegal Migrants.

Benefits:

The MoU will facilitate that the Visa Free Agreement for holders of Diplomatic pass-ports as well as liberalization of UK Visa Regime for those who are travelling to the UK legally, after conclusion of the MoU.

It will ensure the return of persons who have no lawful basis to be in the territory of the other Party after verification of nationality to its satisfaction.

It will help in streamlining the procedure of return of nationals who are caught to be staying illegally, belonging to the other party in a specified time-frame

Source: PIB

•••••••UNITED NATIONS LAUNCHES UN ROAD SAFETY TRUST FUND

What Is It?

United Nations has launched UN Road Safety Trust Fund to improve road safety worldwide to save lives and prevent the loss of opportunity associated with road accidents. UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) is secretariat for the trust fund.

The fund has potential to galvanise global efforts to address road safety situation, building on progress made and experience gained over Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.


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The fund aims to accelerate progress in improving global road safety by bridging gaps in mobilization of resources for effective action at all levels.

It will mobilize resources from governments, intergovernmental or non-governmental organizations (NGOs), private sector, philanthropic organizations and individuals.

It will support efforts along five pillars of Global Plan for Decade of Action for Road Safety (2011-20), which include improved safety of road infrastructure and broader transport networks; strengthened road safety management capacities; enhanced safety of vehicles; improved behaviour of road users and improved post-crash care.

The fund will serve as catalyst for much-needed progress towards road safety targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDG targets 3.6 and 11.2 aim to halve number of global deaths and injuries from road traffic accidents and provide access to safe, affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems as well as improve road safety for all.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••US ADDS INDIA TO THE CURRENCY PRACTICES AND MACROECONOMIC

POLICIES MONITORING LISTWhat Is It?

The US Department of Treasury has included India in the monitoring list of its major trading partners that merit close attention to their currency practices and macroeconomic policies. The list was part of semi-annual report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States.

The US Treasury Department report is required by Congress to identify countries that are trying to artificially manage value of their currency to gain trade advantage, for example by keeping exchange rate low to promote cheaper exports.

It uses three parameters to determine currency manipulator: Bilateral trade surplus with US to be $20 billion, current account surplus at 3% of country’s GDP, and net purchases of foreign currency to 2% of country’s GDP over a year.

Once country is listed, it remains on it for at least two consecutive report cycles which is submitted to US Congress to help ensure that any improvement in performance versus criteria is durable and is not due to temporary factors.


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India is sixth addition to the watch list which comprises China, Japan, South Korea, Germany and Switzerland. US Treasury Department has asked these countries to implement economic reforms to manage their respective surpluses.

According to USDTR, India increased its purchase of forex over first three quarters of 2017. Despite sharp drop-off in purchase in fourth quarter, net annual purchase of forex reached US $56 billion in 2017, equivalent to 2.2% of the GDP. The pick-up in purchases came amidst relatively strong foreign inflows, both of foreign direct investment (FDI) and portfolio investment (FPI).

Notwithstanding increase in intervention, the rupee appreciated by more than 6% against the dollar and by more than 3% on a real effective basis in 2017.

Source: ET

•••••••US PUTS INDIA ON CURRENCY WATCH LIST

What Is It?

The US Treasury has recently announced that Indian currency will be included in their Currency Watch list.

The US Treasury has sighted two major reasons for that – India’s foreign exchange net addition and its bilateral trade surplus with the US.

USA has included total 6 countries in the watchlist- China, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and India.

The US Treasury Department in a report to Congress said that foreign exchange policies of these countries needed to be closely monitored.

The US Treasury Department uses three parameters to include a currency in their Currency Watch List

Bilateral trade surplus with the US to be $20 billion

current account surplus at 3% of country’s GDP

Net purchases of foreign currency to be at least 2% of country’s GDP over a year.

India’s net annual purchases of foreign exchange reached $56 billion in 2017, equivalent to 2.2 percent of GDP — which breached the third criterion.

India’s goods trade surplus with the United States was $23 billion in 2017, which breached the first criterion.


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The Report on Macroeconomic and Foreign Exchange Policies of Major Trading Partners of the United States concluded that no trading partner was found to have met the legislative standards for currency manipulation during the current reporting period.

According to the Department, the findings and recommendations are intended to prevent unfair currency practices, support the growth of free and fair trade, and secure stronger and more balanced global growth.

Achieving these goals require that all economies durably avoid macroeconomic, foreign exchange, and trade policies that facilitate unfair competitive advantage.

Source: ET

•••••••INDIA AND WORLD BANK SIGN A LOAN AGREEMENT OF $48 MILLION

FOR MEGHALAYAWhat Is It?

The Finance Ministry of India has signed a loan agreement of $48 million for Meghalaya Community – Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP).

The Loan Agreement was signed by Mr. Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary (MI) in the Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of the Government of India and Mr. Hisham A Abdo Kahin, Acting Country Director, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank.

The project aims to strengthen community-led landscapes management in selected landscapes in Meghalaya by 2023. The Government of India is committed to the economic development of the North East and supports the measures adopted by the states to reduce risks posed because of climate change.

The Project consists of three components

Strengthening Knowledge and Capacity for Natural Resource Management

Community-led landscape planning and implementation

Project Management and Governance.


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The Project will directly benefit at least one lakh rural people, half of whom are women.

In addition, some 30,000 youth will gain from training, capacity-building and access to knowledge, innovation, and technology.

The Project will support the state’s unique community-based natural resource management (NRM) system, which relies primarily on its population (the Khasi, Garo, and the Jaintia tribes) to manage its forests and natural resources.

The forests are designated as ‘unclassified forests’ in the state records and for the most part do not receive technical or financial support from state institutions. There are no water-related institutions or legal frameworks for water management in the state.

The Government of Meghalaya recognizes the importance of supporting community-led interventions to restore and sustainably manage forests, land and water resources, as well as Meghalaya’s rich biodiversity, on which 80 percent of the population depend.

The project will prioritize around 400 villages located in ‘very critical’ and ‘critical’ (degraded) landscapes, over a period of five years, for their treatment.

Extensive training would be conducted for communities and project management staff at the field level in order expand the reach of the project.

Small grants will be given to kick-start innovation around natural resource management.

A special emphasis will be on creating climate resilient livelihood opportunities for communities, particularly youth and women.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••INDIA - WIESBADEN CONFERENCE 2018 HELD IN NEW DELHI

What Is It?

The India-Wiesbaden Conference 2018 was held from April 16-17, 2018, in New Delhi. The title of conference was ‘Securing Global Supply Chains through Government-Industry Partnerships towards Effective Implementation of UNSC Resolution 1540’.

The Wiesbaden Process was initiated by Government of Germany in 2012 to strengthen implementation of UNSC Resolution 1540 through Government-Industry partnerships.

India-Wiesbaden Conference 2018 was hosted by Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in cooperation with Government of Germany and UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA). Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) was industry partner.


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Representatives from Government and Industry of 39 countries, as well as experts from UNSC 1540 Committee and UN Office for Disarmament Affairs had participated in conference.

The Conference provided opportunity to participants to share experiences on their export control systems and identify legal and technical assistance, action plans & challenges in national implementation of UNSC 1540.

UN Security Council Resolution 1540 (2004)

It establishes legally binding obligations on all states to adopt and enforce ap-propriate and effective measures to prevent to proliferation to non-state ac-tors of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and their delivery systems.

It requires states to implement appropriate laws and effective measures to prevent non-state actors such as terrorists, from obtaining access to weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

India has established legally backed robust export control system to implement UNSC 1540 as part of its long standing commitment to international non-proliferation.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••APRIL 19: WORLD LIVER DAY

What Is It?

The World Liver Day (WLD) is observed every year on April 19 to build awareness and understanding importance of liver in human body and how liver ailments can be treated.

The 2018 theme for WLD is ‘Riding New Waves in Liver Diagnosis, Staging & Treatment’.

As per World Health Organisation (WHO),liver diseases are 10th most common cause of death in India.


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Liver

Liver is unique organ in human body and has special capacity of regeneration.

It is the second largest organ and is key player in our body’s digestive system. Everything we consume passes through the liver.

It fights infections, removes toxins, controls cholesterol, regulates blood sugar, make proteins and releases bile to help digestion. It has been seen that even 75% of liver can be safely removed without any untoward consequences because of its capacity of regeneration.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••COMMONWEALTH INNOVATION INDEX 2018

What Is It?

Commonwealth Innovation Index 2018 was launched on the sidelines of the ongoing Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) as part of a new Commonwealth Innovation Hub.

As per the index, India fetched 10th position and the index was topped by UK.

The Commonwealth Innovation Index has been created in partnership with the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its annual Global Innovation Index (GII).

It will act as a tool through which member states, organisations and citizens will benchmark themselves against 53 countries of the Commonwealth.

The index is a part of the Commonwealth Innovation Hub that offers a dedicated online space for Commonwealth countries to showcase what they have to offer and share with other members.

The Global Innovation Fund (GIF) will work as the delivery partner to host a new Commonwealth Innovation Fund (CIF).

The GIF will manage the fund and its investments, which will be targeted at innovative projects across Commonwealth countries.

CIF will engage with member-countries to gain financial and other support for the fund and India is expected to be among the key countries to collaborate.

The target size of the fund is expected to be 25 million pounds.


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Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM)

It is a biennial summit meeting of the heads of the government from all the common-wealth nations.

Every two years the meeting is held in a different member state and is chaired by that particular nation’s PM or President who becomes the Commonwealth Chair-in-Office until the next meeting.

The first CHOGM was held in 1971.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••INDIA PITCHES FOR INDEPENDENT BRICS CREDIT RATING AGENCY

What Is It?

India has pressed the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations to set up an independent credit rating agency of the five-member group. It was on sidelines of the first meeting of BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors held along with IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, US.

India sought the support of BRICS members in building consensus amongst BRICS membership on the BRICS Rating Agency proposal. It also requested to take forward report to be submitted by expert group set up under the aegis of BRICS Business Council to study the feasibility of the BRICS Rating Agency.

India had first mooted the idea of having such an agency for the BRICS grouping to solve impediments for the emerging market economies posed by present credit rating agency market that is dominated by S&P, Moody’s and Fitch.

These three western rating firms are biased, pessimistic on the developing countries and optimistic on developed nations. They also have concerns over methodologies of the three global agencies.

It discussed enhancing project pipelines of New Development Bank (NDB) evenly across member countries, expansion of NDB’s membership.


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It also deliberated on proposal of South African Presidency for setting up working group on illicit financial flows and BRICS Task Force on Public Private Partnership.

Issues related to BRICS Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA) as well as BRICS Bond Fund were also discussed.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••22ND APRIL – EARTH DAY

What Is It?

Earth Day is an annual event celebrated worldwide on April 22. It was first celebrated in the year 1970 and is now celebrated annually on global basis in more than 193 countries.

Earth Day is celebrated in order to increase the awareness among people about the environmental safety as well as to demonstrate the environmental protection measures.

The Earth and its ecosystems are our home. In order to achieve a just balance among the economic, social, and environmental needs of present and future generations, it is necessary to promote harmony with nature and the Earth.

World Earth Day

World Earth Day observance was started to celebrate as an annual event to get national support. This would help in taking better take care of the environmental safety by solving its issues.


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Most of the earth day communities celebrate it for the whole week with the name Earth Week to focus on many environmental issues.

Earth Day 2018

This year is the 48th Earth Day and 2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day.

Earth Day 2018 theme is ‘End Plastic Pollution’. It is dedicated to provide the information and inspiration needed to fundamentally change human attitude and behaviour about plastics.

This was announced by the Earth Day Network to create support for a global effort to eliminate single-use plastics along with global regulation for the disposal of plastics.

EDN will educate millions of people about the health and other risks associated with the use and disposal of plastics, including pollution of our oceans, water, and wildlife, and about the growing body of evidence that decomposing plastics are creating serious global problems.

The exponential growth of plastic is threatening the environment. Plastic is not only poisoning and injuring marine life but also disrupting human hormones. The presence of plastics in the food leads to major life-threatening diseases.

This end plastic campaign includes four major components-

Leading a grassroots movement to support the adoption of a global framework to regulate plastic pollution

Educating, mobilising and activating citizens across the globe to demand that governments and corporations control and clean up plastic pollution

Educating people worldwide to take personal responsibility for plastic pollution by choosing to reject, reduce, reuse and recycle plastics

Promoting local government regulatory and other efforts to tackle plastic pollution

Source: Wikipedia

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6TH IONS (INDIAN OCEAN NAVAL SYMPOSIUM) – IONS 2018

What Is It?

The 6th Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) has kicked off in Tehran with participation of 35 high-ranking military delegations from across the world.

It is a two day event witnessing 35 high-ranking military delegations from across the world, including India, Turkey, and Australia.

Iran will take over the presidency of the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) for a two-year term.

The previous rounds of the biennial event were held in India, the UAE, South Africa, Australia and Bangladesh.

The IONS initiative aims to increase maritime cooperation among navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region.

Admiral Sunil Lanba will also hold bilateral discussions with the Commander IRI Navy, and other participating ‘Chiefs of Navy/ Head of Maritime Agencies’.

As the founder nation, India will also be conducting commemorative activities in November 2018 at Kochi, for celebrating the 10th anniversary of the IONS.

The IONS was conceived by the Indian Navy in 2008.

The forum seeks to enhance maritime cooperation among navies of the littoral states of the Indian Ocean Region by providing an open and inclusive forum for discussion on regionally relevant maritime issues that would lead to common understanding on the way ahead.

IONS

The Indian Ocean Naval Symposium, commonly known as IONS, are a series of biennial meetings among the littoral states of the Indian Ocean region.

It provides a forum to increase maritime security cooperation, providing a forum for discussion of regional maritime issues and promote friendly relationships among the member nations.


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The IONS was conceived by the Indian Navy in 2008.

The inaugural edition of IONS was held in February 2008 at New Delhi, with Indian Navy as the Chair for two years.

The IONS Charter of Business was agreed upon by the Conclave of Chiefs and brought into effect in February 2014.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••WORLD BANK: INDIA HIGHEST RECIPIENT OF REMITTANCES IN 2017

What Is It?

According to the World Bank’s Migration and Development Brief reports, India has topped as the highest recipient of remittances globally in 2017, with its diaspora sending back $69 billion.

Remittances to low- and middle-income countries rebounded to a record level in 2017 after two consecutive years of decline.

As per the estimates, the officially recorded remittances to low- and middle-income countries reached $466 billion in 2017, an increase of 8.5 percent over $429 billion in 2016.

Global remittances, which include flows to high-income countries, grew 7 percent to $613 billion in 2017, from $573 billion in 2016.

Remittances are expected to continue to increase in 2018, by 4.1 percent to reach $485 billion.


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Global remittances are expected to grow 4.6 percent to $642 billion in 2018.

It include flows to high-income countries. The stronger-than-expected recovery in remittances was driven by growth in Europe, Russia and US.

The rebound in global remittances was due to higher oil prices and strengthening of Euro and Ruble.

The transit migrants-who only stay temporarily in transit country, are usually not able to send money home. Migration may help migrants to escape poverty or persecution, but many also become vulnerable to exploitation by human smugglers during transit.

The top remittance recipients were –India ($69 billion), China ($64 billion), the Philippines ($33 billion), Mexico ($31 billion), Nigeria ($22 billion) and Egypt ($20 billion).

Source: ET

•••••••INDIA – WORLD BANK LOAN AGREEMENT FOR “INNOVATE IN INDIA FOR

INCLUSIVENESS PROJECT”

What Is It?

The Union Ministry of Finance has signed a Loan Agreement with the World Bank for IBRD credit of US$ 125 for Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project.

The Loan Agreement was signed by Sameer Kumar Khare, Joint Secretary in the Department of Economic Affairs on behalf of Government of India and Hisham Abdo, Acting Country Director, World Bank (India) on behalf of the World Bank.

The basic aim of the project is to nurture indigenous innovation, foster local product development and accelerate commercialization process.

These aims would be achieved by bridging the critical skill and infrastructure gaps in order to promote affordable and innovative healthcare products generation. This would promote inclusive development and would help in increasing competitiveness in India.

The project will support Government of India’s Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Program (BIRAC).

BIRAC was set up five years ago to support innovative start-ups and collaborations through strategic partnerships.

BIRAC will now scale-up its efforts across the industry and focus on improving India’s biopharma innovation ecosystem.


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It will facilitate a more collaborative research and development environment (R&D), leverage the expertise of local and international players from both the public and private sectors.

The project will support consortia of public, private, and the academic institutions to overcome the key market failures.

These failures are currently holding back the development of an innovative biopharmaceutical and medical devices industry in India.

This will help India emerge as a low-cost healthcare provider for the world.

The project consists of the following parts:

Strengthening of pilot-to market innovation ecosystem

Acceleration of the pilot –to-market process for specific products

Project Management and monitoring & Evaluation

The $125 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a 5-year grace period, and a maturity of 19 years.

The closing date of the project is 30th June, 2023.

Source: PIB

•••••••INDIA RANKS 138TH IN WORLD PRESS FREEDOM INDEX 2018

What Is It?

In recently released World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) 2018 by Reporters Without Borders, India was placed at 138th rank out of 180 nations surveyed worldwide in terms of press freedom in 2017. It was ranked at the 135th in WPFI 2017.

Overall, the 2018 report concludes, global press freedom is in a worse state than it was last year and a record number of countries this year have been classified as having “very bad” freedom of the press.

According to the index, journalists face more hatred than last year, not only in authoritarian countries but also increasingly in countries with democratically elected leaders.

This year’s report mentioned that more and more democratically-elected leaders no longer see the media as part of democracy’s essential element.


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For instance, the United States, the country with the First Amendment (which among other things prevents US Congress from abridging the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press) fell from rank 43 last year to rank 45.

India has dropped from rank 136 to rank 138.

The report mentioned sharing of “hate speeches” targeting journalists by “troll armies” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a reason for this low rank.

The report also mentioned “physical violence” against journalists is largely responsible for India’s low ranking. At least three journalists were murdered in connection with their work.

China’s ranking remained unchanged at 175th position for the second year.

North Korea is at the bottom of the list, just below Eritrea and Turkmenistan.

The Gambia has seen the biggest improvement in press freedom, rising 21 spots to 122, followed by South Korea and Greece, which rose to 20 and 14 places respectively.

The report also analysed press freedom in five regions, with the Middle East and North Africa region being the worst for journalists.

World Press Freedom Index

The World Press Freedom Index report is being published annually since 2002. The World Press Freedom Index measures the level of media freedom in 180 countries. It measures the level of pluralism, media independence, the environment and self-censorship, the legal framework, transparency, and the quality of the infrastructure that supports the production of news and information.

Source: ET

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INDIA-CHINA INFORMAL SUMMIT IN WUHAN

What Is It?The first Informal Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China’s President Xi Jinping was held in Wuhan.

The main objective of the meeting was to exchange views on overarching issues of bilateral and global importance, and to elaborate their respective visions and priorities for national development in the context of the current and future international situation.

The two sides aim to enhance policy coordination in their neighbourhood to discuss cooperation in the form of China India plus one or China India plus X.

Both leaders agreed that simultaneous emergence of India and China as two large economies and major powers with strategic and decisional autonomy has implications of regional and global significance.

They shared the view that peaceful, stable and balanced relations between India and China will be a positive factor for stability amidst current global uncertainties.

Therefore a bilateral relationship will be conducive for the development and prosperity of the region.

They decided to strengthen the Closer Development Partnership in a mutually beneficial and sustainable manner to bring greater prosperity for their peoples.

They also agreed to issue strategic guidance to their forces and strengthen existing mechanisms to maintain peace and tranquillity along the border areas.

They highlighted importance of maintaining peace and tranquillity in all areas of India-China border region in larger interest of the overall development of bilateral relations.

Prime Minister Modi and President Xi agreed that both sides have the maturity and wisdom to handle the differences through peaceful discussion, respecting each other’s sensitivities, concerns and aspirations.

They agreed on their need to strengthen strategic communication through greater consultation on all matters of common interest. This would have a positive influence on enhancing mutual understanding and will contribute to regional and global stability.

They recognized the common threat posed by terrorism and committed themselves to cooperate on counter-terrorism.

They laid emphasis on the fact that a good Sino-India relationship is important for maintaining peace and stability in world.

Source: PIB

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CSIR WINS NATIONAL INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY (IP) AWARD 2018

What Is It?

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) was awarded National Intellectual Property (IP) Award 2018.

It received the award in the category “Top R&D Institution/Organization for Patents and Commercialization”. This award is awarded annually by Indian Intellectual Property Office (under Ministry of Commerce and Industry) in various categories.

The award was conferred by Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu, at a function organised by the Indian Intellectual Property Office and Confederation of Indian Chambers of Commerce (CII).

The Indian Intellectual Property Office confers National Intellectual Property (IP) Award on outstanding innovators, organisations and companies in the fields of patents, designs, trademarks and geographical indications on the occasion of World IP Day every year.

CSIR

The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research is a contemporary research and development organisation established in 1942.

It runs 38 laboratories and 39 field stations throughout the nation, with a collective staff of over 12,000 scientists and scientific and technical personnel.

It has been ranked 9th in the world amongst 1207 government institutions, with an overall global ranking of 75 amongst 5250 institutions.

Although it is mainly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, it operates as an autonomous body through the Societies Registration Act, 1860.

It is contributing to Missions such as Swachh Bharat, Swasth Bharat, Samarth Bharat, Make in India, Innovate for India, Startup India and Skill India.

It is known as the pioneer of India’s intellectual property movement.

Source: The Hindu

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PEACE MISSION: INDIA, PAKISTAN FOR FIRST TIME TO PARTICIPATE TOGETHER IN SCO COUNTER-TERROR EXERCISE

What Is It?

For first time, arch rivals India and Pakistan are taking part in Peace Mission, a multi-nation counter-terror exercise in Russia to be held in September 2018. The military exercise is going to take place under the framework of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).

India’s participation at exercise was confirmed by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during meeting of SCO Defence Ministers’ meeting held in Beijing, China in April 2018.

Peace Mission counter-terror military exercise will be held in the Ural mountains of Russia and almost all SCO member countries are taking part in it.

Its main aim is to enhance counter-terror cooperation among the eight SCO member countries. It will be for first time since Independence that India and Pakistan will both be part of military exercise, though armies of two arch rival neighbouring countries have worked together in UN peacekeeping missions.

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO)

SCO is political and security grouping headquartered in Beijing. It was founded in 2001.

The full members of organization are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, India and Pakistan. They represent over 40% of humanity and nearly 20% of the global GDP. Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia have observer status at present.

Source: The Hindu

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INFRASTRUCTURE

NHAI SIGNS AGREEMENT FOR ITS FIRST INTERNATIONAL PROJECT

What Is It?

The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) said it had signed its first international project agreement for upgradation of a highway in Myanmar.

The agreement signed on Wednesday aims to provide seamless vehicular movement for enhancing trade, business, health, education and tourism between India, Myanmar and Thailand. The project would be completed in three years.

Under the agreement, the NHAI would upgrade the Yagyi-Kalewa section of highway (milepost 40/0 to milepost 115/5) in Myanmar to two lanes with earthen shoulder.

“The project has been funded by External Affairs Ministry and would be executed on EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) mode at a cost of Rs 1,177 crore,” NHAI said in a statement.

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“The project will have three new major bridges and two new minor bridges. Four existing major bridges and nine existing minor bridges will be repaired and strengthened and six existing minor bridges will be reconstructed.

The project aims to provide seamless vehicular movement for enhancing trade, business, health, education and tourism between Indian, Myanmar and Thailand.

The IMT Trilateral Highway is regional highway being constructed under India’s Act East policy to boost connectivity in the region.

It will connect Moreh in India with Mae Sot, Thailand via Myanmar. The highway is expected to boost trade and commerce in ASEAN–India Free Trade Area, as well as with rest of Southeast Asia.

Source: PIB

•••••••UNIFORM ROAD TAX STRUCTURE FOR VEHICLES ACROSS INDIA: GOM

What Is It?The Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted by the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has recommended a One Nation One Tax Policy to ensure a seamless movement of commercial vehicles across the country.

The GoM is headed by Rajasthan transport minister Yoonus Khan.The meeting was attended by transport ministers from Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Kerala, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Meghalaya and Jharkhand. If accepted, the recommendations will allow the transfer of vehicles from one state to another without levying road tax.

India should have a uniform structure of road tax for vehicles across states.A uniform tax structure will put a check on people registering their vehicles in low tax states and running them in other states.

It will also bring necessary relief to genuine cases requiring transfer of vehicles.

The panel has proposed liberalisation of permit system for electric vehicles so as to promote alternative fuel for vehicles.

The panel has also recommended a national bus and taxi permit on the lines of such a permit for goods transport.

Centre has the powers to decide principles on which motor vehicles tax can be levied. The uniform tax should be based on invoice price of vehicles.

The GoM has recommended three tax slabs, 8 percent tax on vehicles below 10 lakhs, 10 percent for vehicles costing between 10 -20 lakh, and 12 percent for vehicles above 20 lakh.

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Diesel vehicles may have to pay 2 percent extra taxes, while electric vehicles will be given a two percent discount.

The annual growth rate in the public transport of the country is only 2% whereas in the private transport it is around 20%.

Therefore the GoM has recommended to give the much needed fillip to public transport and help reduce road congestion and its attendant problems.

A committee of five secretaries from the states of Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Rajasthan has been asked to submit a report within 15 days to build further consensus on other charges and fee which vary from state to state.

Source: PIB

•••••••PM LAUNCHES RASHTRIYA GRAM SWARAJ ABHIYAN

What Is It?Prime Minister today launched Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan scheme that seeks to strengthen the country’s Panchayati Raj system and address critical gaps that hinder its success.

The Central government scheme aims at making rural local bodies self-sustainable, financially stable and more efficient.

The programme seeks to address critical gaps that hinder the success of Panchayats by enhancing their capacities and effectiveness, and promote devolution of powers and responsibilities.

Its intended objective is to train and build capacity of elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

It seeks to shift the participative planning, prepared from the grassroots level upwards and strengthen panchayat level governance with more appropriate capacity building.

Recently, he Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by PM Modi had approved restructured Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) to focus on training, building infrastructure, stepping up initiatives for e-governance under e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) to deliver Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will be implemented during period from April 2018 to March 2022 with outlay of Rs. 7255 crore.

Source: PIB

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PM MODI LAUNCHES VAN DHAN SCHEME

What Is It?The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi launched the Van Dhan Scheme of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED during the celebrations of Ambedkar Jayanti at Bijapur, Chattisgarh.

Emphasizing the important role of value addition in increasing tribal incomes, he stated that Van Dhan, Jan Dhan and Gobar-Dhan Schemes had the potential to change the tribal-rural economic system. All these three schemes in tandem need to be promoted for this purpose by the State Governments.

SCHEMEUnder Van Dhan, 10 Self Help Groups of 30 Tribal gatherers would be constituted.

The groups will then be trained and provided with working capital to add value to the products that they collect from the jungle.

These groups would then be able to market their products, by working under the leadership of collector, not only within the states but also outside the states.

The Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India (TRIFED) would be providing all the required training and technical support.

The SHGs will be appropriately trained on sustainable harvesting/collection, primary processing & value addition and be formed into clusters so as to aggregate their stock in tradable quantity and link them with the facility of primary processing in a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra.

The stock after primary processing shall be supplied by these SHGs to the State Implementing Agencies or direct tie up for supply to the corporate secondary processor.

Big corporates shall be involved under PPP model for the creation of secondary level value addition facility at district level and tertiary level value addition facility at the state level.

The PPP model will be based on utilising Private entrepreneur skills in undertaking processing as well as marketing of the produce.

The central and state government would provide support by creating infrastructure and providing enabling environment for undertaking value addition of systematic scientific lines.

Source: PIB

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NITI AAYOG LAUNCHES ATAL NEW INDIA CHALLENGE UNDER ATAL INNOVATION MISSION

What Is It?

The NITI Aayog has launched Atal New India Challenge under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM). The project envisions grants of up to Rs 1 crore for selected innovations, products in 17 focus areas.

It aims to bring-in innovations and technologies relevant to the people.

It will focus on efforts towards solving problems in core areas, which would have direct impact on improving lives of citizens and also generate employment. AIM will attempt to harness the potential of India’s innovators.

For this initiative, AIM has partnered with Ministries of Housing and Urban Affairs, Road Transport and Highways, Agriculture and Family Welfare, Drinking Water & Sanitation and Railway Board.

AIM will invite prospective innovators, MSMEs and start-ups to design market-ready products using cutting edge technologies or prototypes across pre-identified 17 focus areas that have been named.

17 identified focus areas are: climate-smart agriculture, fog vision system for road and rail, prevention of rail failure using emerging technologies, predictive maintenance of Rolling Stock, alternate fuel based transportation, smart mobility, electric mobility, safe transport, instant portable water quality testing, affordable desalination/recycling technology, waste management recycling/reuse, garbage composition devices, quality of compost, decentralized composting, mixing blades for composting, waste in public spaces and dissuading public littering.

Applicants showing capability, intent and potential to productise technologies will be awarded grants up to Rs 1 crore.

This grant will be further supplemented by mentoring, handholding, incubating and other support as needed at various stages of commercialisation, while generating wider deployment for the product.

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These grants will be awarded in up to 3 tranches within 12 – 18 months and will not be mutually exclusive and will be given based on Selection Committee’s perception of potential.

The winning grantees will be supported with mentoring, go-to-market strategies by leading incubators, accelerators and experts, technical support and other means.

The programme will be open to Indian companies registered under Companies Act 1956 and 2013, MSMEs, Start-Ups or private R&D organizations (other than Railway R&D organization), academic institutions, academicians, or even individual innovators.

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)

It is a flagship initiative set up by the NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across India. Its mandate is to create umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of country and revolutionize innovation eco-system. It aims to develop new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of economy.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES PILOT SCHEME PROCUREMENT OF

AGGREGATE POWER OF 2500 MW FOR THREE YEARS

What Is It?

Ministry of Power has launched Pilot Scheme for Procurement of Aggregate Power of 2500 MW on competitive basis for 3 years. The main purpose of scheme is to revive commissioned power plants which are unable to sell electricity in absence of valid power purchase agreements (PPAs).

PFC Consulting Limited (A wholly owned subsidiary of PFC Ltd) has been appointed as Nodal Agency and PTC India Limited as the Aggregator. PTC India would sign three-year (mid-term) Agreement for Procurement of Power with successful bidders and Power Supply Agreement with the Discoms.

Under the scheme a single entity can be allotted maximum capacity of 600 MW. The Scheme assures a minimum off-take of 55 per cent of contracted capacity. The Tariff will be fixed for three years without any escalation.

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PFC Consulting Limited is in process of inviting the bids in first week of May, 2018 under the scheme. The bidding will be conducted on the DEEP e-Bidding Portal and with L1 matching for bucket filling without reverse auction.

This scheme is expected to revive the power demand which has affected the generators not having Power Purchase Agreements.

The scheme will help nearly 12 GW commissioned thermal power plants get medium-term power purchase agreement (PPA) which is pre-requisite for getting coal linkage.

Presently out of 40 GW stressed coal based power generation capacity, 28 plants of 24 GW worth Rs 1.44 lakh crore are commissioned. Near half of these capacities (12 GW) do not have coal linkage because of no PPAs.

Source: PIB

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INDIAN POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

97.05 LAKH SUBSCRIBERS BASE UNDER ATAL PENSION YOJANA

What Is It?

According to Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), the subscriber base of Atal Pension Yojana (APY) stood at 97.05 lakh at end of 2017-18 fiscal. It was lower than target of 1 crore set by pension regulator PFRDA.

Atal Pension Yojana

APY was launched in June 2015 with aim to provide affordable universal access to essential social security protection to unorganized work force of country, which makes major chunk of labour force (88%). It had replaced earlier government-backed pension Swavalamban scheme targeted at the unorganised sector.

It is available to all citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years (making minimum period of contribution by subscriber is 20 years).

Under scheme, subscriber will receive minimum guaranteed pension of Rs. 1000 to Rs. 5000 per month, depending on his contribution, from age of 60 years.

There is no exit to scheme before age of 60. In case of death of subscriber, spouse of subscriber is entitled for same amount of pension till his or her death.

PFRDA is a statuary pension regulatory authority of India established under PFRDA Act, 2003 enacted by Parliament. It functions under the aegis of Ministry of Finance, Department of Financial Services. It was established in August 2003 and is headquartered in New Delhi.

Source: PIB.

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120 CASTES/COMMUNITIES NOTIFIED IN CENTRAL OBC LIST IN LAST 3 YEARS: GOVERNMENT

What Is It?

The Government of India notifies inclusion of castes/communities in the Central List of Other Backward Classes for different States/Union Territories on the basis of advice tendered by National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) under Section 9(1) of the NCBC Act, 1993.

The NCBC determines inclusion or otherwise of castes/communities in the Central List of OBCs on the basis of norms established w.r.t. social, educational, economic, representation in Central Services and Miscellaneous parameters.

A total of 120 entries containing castes, their synonyms and sub-castes have been notified in the Central List of Other Backward Classes in the last three years.

National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC)

NCBC is statutory body established under NCBC Act, 1993 in the aftermath of Mandal Case (1992) judgement. It was established on directives of Supreme Court as it had ordered to set up permanent statutory body to look into complaints of under-inclusion, over-inclusion or non-inclusion of any class of citizens in list of OBCs.

NCBC comprises Chairman, Social Scientist, two persons having special knowledge in matters of backward classes and member secretary. The chairperson must have been Judge of Supreme Court or High Court. Their appointments, removal and decision regarding salaries, allowances etc. are done by the Central Government. Chairperson and members have tenure of three years.

Source: PIB.

•••••••CABINET APPROVES PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

(AMENDMENTS) BILL, 2018

What Is It?

The Union Cabinet has introduction of Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018 in Parliament for better protection and promotion of human rights in the country. The Bill will amend Protection of Human Rights, 1993 which was last amended in 2006.

It proposes to include National Commission for Protection of Child Rights as deemed Member of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). It proposes to add woman member in composition of NHRC.


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It proposes to enlarge scope of eligibility and scope of selection of Chairperson, NHRC as well as State Human Rights Commission (SHRCs). It proposes to incorporate mechanism to look after cases of human rights violation in Union Territories.

It proposes to amend term of office of Chairperson and Members of NHRC and SHRCs to make it in consonance with terms of Chairperson and Members of other Commissions.

The amendment will strengthen Human Rights Institutions of India further for effective discharge of their mandates, roles and responsibilities. Moreover, the amended act will be in perfect sync with agreed global standards and benchmarks towards ensuring rights relating to life, liberty, equality and dignity of individual in the country.

The amendment will make NHRC and SHRCs more compliant with Paris Principles concerning its autonomy, independence, pluralism and wide-ranging functions in order to effectively protect and promote human rights.

Source: PIB

•••••••GOVERNMENT TO LAUNCH GOBAR DHAN YOJANA

NATIONALLY FROM HARYANA

What Is It?

Central Government’s ‘Gobardhan Yojna’, a scheme for managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste into manure and biogas, will be launched nationally from Karnal, Haryana on April 30, 2018.

Word ‘Gobar’ in ‘Gobardhan Yojna’ is to be referred as abbreviation of Galvanising Organic Bio Agro Resources.

Under this scheme, bio-gas plants will be set up at individual or community level and also at the level of Self Help Groups and NGOs like Gaushalas.


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Funds required to set up bio-gas plants will be provided by central and state governments in the ratio of 60:40.

Generating energy by converting cattle dung and solid agricultural waste into compost and biogas will also ensure cleanliness in villages.

Government has set a target to cover nearly 700 districts under the scheme during 2018-19.

The scheme will be hugely beneficial for country as India is home to highest cattle population in world (around 300 million in number) which produces around 3 million tonnes of dung.

It will encourage farmers to consider dung and other waste not just as waste but as source of income. It will provide many benefits to rural people by keeping villages clean and sanitized, improving livestock health and increasing farm yields.

Under it, biogas generation will help to increase self-reliance in energy utilized for cooking and lighting. It will augment income of farmers and cattle herders. It will create new opportunities for jobs linked to waste collection, transportation, biogas sales etc.

Source: PIB

•••••••PRADHAN MANTRI UJJWALA YOJANA LAUNCHED

IN NEW DELHI

What Is It?

Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan launched Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme in Delhi and distributed new LPG connections and cylinders to beneficiaries.

During the event, about 400 LPG connections were handed over to families belonging to below poverty line category.

PMUY was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in May 2016 with tagline of Swachh Indhan, Behtar Jeevan. The scheme’s motive is to provide free of ost LPG (cooking gas) connections to women from BPL Households. Through it, cash assistance is given to beneficiaries to get a deposit-free new connection.


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The scheme aims to empower women and protect their health by shifting them from traditional cooking based on unclean cooking fuels or on fossil fuels to clean cooking gas.

It is first social welfare scheme implemented by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. In February 2018, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had approved to enhance target base of PMUY from 5 crore to 8 crore.

Source: TOI

•••••••ITI FORUM FOR NORTHEAST TO MEET

What Is It?

The first meeting of the newly constituted ‘NITI Forum for North East’ was held in Agartala, Tripura. The meeting, organized by the NITI Aayog, Ministry of DoNER and the North Eastern Council (NEC), was co-chaired by the Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, Senior Ministers, Chief Secretaries and senior officers of the Central Ministries and State Governments were also present.

The forum will work closely with DoNER and North Eastern Council and its secretariat will be located at the DoNER Ministry, the Agartala meeting would deliberate on issues relating to improving agriculture, particularly organic farming and horticulture, road infrastructure, hydropower and tourism in the North East.


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The Government has focused on development in a region which more or less remained out of the mainstream for the last seven decades since Independence.

There has been a significant 21% rise in fund utilization in the North-East during the last three years and the Central Government has now committed full 100% funding for development projects in the NER, as against 90-10 ratio earlier with the State Governments funding 10% of the total cost.

Representatives of all eight member States of the NER gave their valuable suggestions on Moving towards a prosperous North East Region, the theme for today’s meeting.

The ‘NITI Forum for North East’ was constituted in February 2018 with an aim to ensure sustainable economic growth of the North Eastern Region (NER) of the country and periodically review the development status in NER.

Source: PIB

•••••••e-AADHAAR GETS DIGITALLY-SIGNED QR CODE WITH PHOTO

What Is It?

The UIDAI has brought in secure digitally-signed QR Code on e-Aadhaar that will now contain photograph of the Aadhaar holder too, in addition to demographic details, to facilitate better offline verification of an individual.

“The UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) recently replaced existing QR code on e-Aadhaar having resident’s demographic details now with a secured digitally-signed QR Code which contains demographics along with photograph of the Aadhaar holder.

A QR code is a form of barcode label which contains machine-readable information, while e-Aadhaar is the electronic version of Aadhaar that can be downloaded from UIDAI website.

The new feature, the digitally-signed QR code, will contain photo of the Aadhaar holder in addition to existing facility of demographic details, in turn allowing various user agencies like banks to verify authenticity of Aadhaar card offline.


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This is a simple offline mechanism to quickly verify the genuineness of the Aadhaar card.”

However, to ensure that a person is a bonafide owner of the Aadhaar card, there has to be a manual check of photo with the individual’s face or though use of agency specific authentication scheme.

The UIDAI’s e-Aadhaar QR Code reader software has been made available on the nodal body’s website from 27 March 2018.

Offline verification facility would add yet another option to the exception-handling mechanism at the ground level for ensuring that no denials on Aadhaar-based services take place.

It is a very useful and secure facility on eAadhaar where anyone, whether an Aadhaar holder or a user or service agencies like banks can do offline verification of the data in e-Aadhaar along with the photograph.

So now, in an eAadhaar, there will a small QR code on front side of cutaway portion, with demographic data only, and large ones on top portion of front side and the back (containing demographic data and the photo). Further, to make this information more secured and tamper-proof, it will be signed with UIDAI digital signature.

Source: BusinessLine

•••••••CJI BENCH ON CJI: FIRST AMONG EQUALS, POWER TO ALLOCATE WORK

What Is It?

The Supreme Court has reiterated that Chief Justice of India (CJI) is first among equals and has exclusive prerogative to allocate cases and constitute benches. The ruling was given by SC bench led by the CJI Dipak Misra dismissing PIL that sought directions to regulate CJI’s power to form benches and allocate cases.

The CJI in his capacity as judge is primus inter pares, first among equals. In discharge of his other functions, CJI occupies position which is sui generis, in class by itself.

Article 146 reaffirms position CJI as head of institution.

From institutional perspective, CJI is placed at helm of SC. In the allocation of cases and constitution of benches, CJI has exclusive prerogative.


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CJI is institution in him as he is repository of constitutional trust. The authority which is conferred upon CJI is vested in high constitutional functionary necessary for efficient transaction of administrative and judicial work of SC.

The ultimate purpose behind entrustment of authority to CJI is to ensure that SC is able to fulfil and discharge constitutional obligations which govern and provide rationale for its existence.

The entrustment of functions to CJI as head of institution is with purpose of securing position of SC as independent safeguard for preservation of personal liberty. There cannot be a presumption of mistrust. The oath of office demands nothing less.

The ruling comes more than four months after five-judge Constitution Bench of Supreme Court asserted that CJI alone had power to draw up benches and allot work to them.

This was also reaffirmed few days later by three-judge bench which dismissed a plea seeking a court-monitored probe into medical college admission scam allegedly involving former Orissa High Court judge.

But the controversy over allocation of work by CJI in SC refused to ebb as its four most senior judges — Justices J Chelameswar, Madan B Lokur, Ranjan Gogoi and Kurian Joseph called an unprecedented press conference in January 2018 to raise questions about the conduct of CJI, especially on allocation of work.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••E-FRRO SCHEME LAUNCHED

What Is It?

The Union Home Minister Mr Rajnath Singh launched the web-based application “e-FRRO” (e- Foreigners regional registration Office). The scheme was flagged off to expedite visa services for foreigners visiting India.

With the help of this application, foreigners can apply online and obtain services through email or post without appearing in person at


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the FRRO office.

It aims to build a centralized, transparent online platform for foreigners to avail visa related services and to provide faceless, cashless and paperless services to the foreigners with a user-friendly experience.

It will allow foreign tourists/travellers to avail of paperless and cashless visa-related services online.

Foreigners will be able to get as many as 27 visa and immigration-related services in India from the comfort of their place of stay.

It will increase the ease of service delivery with respect to foreigners visiting and staying in India.

e-FRRO is running successfully as a pilot project in four FRROs (Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai) since February 12, 2018. Now it has been rolled out in the remaining eight FRROs, - namely Kolkata, Amritsar, Hyderabad, Cochin, Thiruvananthapuram, Calicut, Lucknow and Ahmedabad.

Foreigners are required to create their own User ID by registering themselves on this application.

After registering themselves successfully, they can apply online through registered User-ID for various visa and immigration-related services in India.

The necessary immigration or visa document will be sent by post on the address mentioned in the online application. It will also be sent electronically to the registered email ID.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES GRAM SWARAJ ABHIYAN

What Is It?

The Union Government launched “Gram Swaraj Abhiyan- Special Interventions”, an high-intensity outreach programme to deliver welfare schemes to select villages which need particular attention. It was lunched on the occasion of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti (14th April).

The abhiyan was launched on the lines of rural development schemes like Antyodaya based on principle of convergence and saturation. The initiative aims for 100% coverage


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of seven schemes launched by Central Government for eligible beneficiaries in three-week window from April 14 to May 5, 2018.

The objective of abhiyan is to promote social harmony, reach out to poor rural households, obtain feedback on ongoing programmes, enrol in new initiatives, focus on doubling farmers’ income, enhance livelihood opportunities and re-emphasise national priorities such as cleanliness and strengthen Panchayati Raj institutions.

The seven schemes covered under it are Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, Ujala scheme, Saubhagya, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana and Mission Indradhanush.

Government has appointed dozens of directors and deputy secretaries to push its flagship programmes to “100% saturation” in rural areas.

It will benefit 17,000 poor villages by providing them free LPG connections, electricity supply, Jan Dhan accounts, two PM Insurance schemes and immunisation of children will be available in 21 days.

Source: TOI

•••••••FIRST REGIONAL CONFERENCE OF EASTERN STATES ON WATER

RESOURCES HELD IN KOLKATA

What Is It?

The first regional conference of eastern states on Water Resources was held in Kolkata, West Bengal in bid to address outstanding water resources issues. It was conveyed by Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation.

The conference was aimed at addressing outstanding water resources issues, inter-state issues, intra and inter-basin issues among five eastern states of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and West Bengal. It was attended by Water Resources ministers and secretaries of the five states and chairman of Central Water Commission.


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It also deliberated on finding solution to mitigate intra and intra-basin issues relating to water resources in these five state. It also discussed on the issue of interlinking of rivers.

Issues pertaining to unified and scientific control of all reservoirs, erosion on banks of river Bhagirathi and non-availability of 100% central grant for 19 anti-erosion work executed near international border with Bangladesh during 12th Plan period were also discussed.

Source: TOI

•••••••GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES DARPAN-PLI APP

What Is It?

The Union Ministry of Communications has launched DARPAN-PLI application for seamless collection of premium for Postal Life Insurance (PLI) and Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) policies. The app launched under DARPAN Project will help in collection of premium of these two policies at branch post offices anywhere in India, with online updation of the policies.

With launch of this app, indexing of maturity claims of PLI and RPLI polices can be done at Branch Post Office itself, upon which insurant will immediately be provided with request number for further references.

This will help in providing better after-sales service to customers of PLI and RPLI,particularly those living in rural areas of country.

The Ministry of Communications had launched DARPAN (Digital Advancement of Rural Post Office for a New India) Project to achieve total digitisation of postal operations in the country, under IT Modernisation Plan, Department of Posts (DoP).

The project aims at connecting all 1.29 lakh Rural Branch Post Offices in country to enable them to do online postal and financial Transactions. Under it, hand held devices with SIM connectivity and solar power backup are installed in all Branch Post Offices across the country to ensure improvement in quality of Postal services being offered in rural areas.


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DARPAN project seeks to increase rural reach of Department of Posts (DoP) and enable BOs to increase traffic of all financial remittances, savings accounts, RPLI policy and cash certificates.

It also will improve mail operations processes by allowing for automated booking and delivery of account.

Overall, this project will help to improve quality of service, add value to services and achieve financial inclusion of un-banked rural population.

Source: TOI

•••••••CIVIL SERVICES DAY EVENT INAUGURATED BY VICE PRESIDENT

What Is It?

The Vice President of India inaugurated the two-day Civil Services Day event in New Delhi.

It was the 12th Civil Services Day which was inaugurated on 20th April 2018 and the Vice President of India Mr Venkaiah Naidu was the Chief Guest of the event.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will present awards for excellence in public administration on a concluding day on April 21.

April 21, is commemorated as the Civil Services Day in India.

The Government of India observes this day every year as one dedicated to the civil servants since it was on this day in 1947 when Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, independent India’s first home minister, had addressed the soon-to-be independent country’s first batch of civil servants at Metcalf House in Delhi.

In his speech, Sardar Patel had referred to the bureaucrats as the “steel frame of India”.

April 21 is thus remembered as the day when the civil servants dedicate themselves to the cause of the country’s people and renew their commitment to people’s service and excellence in work. The day is being observed regularly since 2006.

The Civil Services day is celebrated for the civil servants to rededicate themselves to the cause of citizen and renew their commitments to public service and excellence in work.


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The PM awards given during the event are for the effective implementation of identified priority programmes and innovation and are given to districts or implementing units and other central or state organisations.

Four priority programmes have been chosen for the awards.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Urban & Rural.

Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana

Promoting Digital Payments

Source: PIB

•••••••INTEGRATION OF E-SANAD PORTAL AND NAD

(NATIONAL ACADEMIC DEPOSITORY)

What Is It?

The Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD) has launched integration of e-SANAD portal and NAD – National Academic Depository in order to make education system in India more transparent.

e-SANAD?

e-SANAD is a project being implemented by NIC (National Information Centre) in coordination with CBSE, state/UTs and the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a phased manner.

It is aimed at online submission/verification of documents in order to extend contact less, cashless, faceless and paperless document attestation service.

Using it any type of document viz personal, educational or commercial can be authenticated and apostilled. The document should be available in the digital repository for getting attestation/apostille through e-SANAD.

Users need to register in the e-SANAD portal for accessing these services.

This would be further extended to Indians residing abroad in a phased manner.

e-SANAD is currently operational in five passport offices and in Attestation Section, CPV Division, Ministry of External Affairs.

The e-Sanad, will start with CBSE depository (for years 2014 & onwards) and verification of the CBSE documents would be done online.


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NAD (National Academic Depository)

NAD is 24X7 online store house of all academic awards viz. diplomas certificates, degrees, mark-sheets etc. duly digitised and lodged by academic boards, institutions, eligibility assessment bodies.

It ensures easy access to and retrieval of academic award and validates and guarantees its authenticity and safe storage.

NAD comprises of two interoperable digital depositories-

NSDL Database Management Limited (NDML)

CDSL Ventures Limited (CVL)

These digital depositories have ensured hardware, network facilities and software of prescribed quality for smooth and secured operationalisation of NAD.

The UGC has signed a tripartite agreement with the NDML and CVL for operationalising NAD.

NAD not only ensures easy access to and retrieval of an academic award but also validates and guarantees its authenticity and safe storage.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••GOVT. LAUNCHES CENTRAL PROJECT MONITORING UNIT FOR E-VIDHAN

PROJECT AT PARLIAMENT

What Is It?

The Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs inaugurated the new office of Central Project Monitoring Unit for the e-Vidhan project of the Government.

This was done as a part of Swachhata Pakhwada being observed by the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs from 16th to 30thApril, 2018.

e-Vidhan project?

e-Vidhan is a mission mode project to digitize and make the functioning of State Legislatures in India paperless.

It is a part of the broader Digital India Programme of the Government and is likely to contribute to the cleanliness & environment by reducing the use of papers to a great extent.


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It will also make functioning of State Legislatures participative, responsive, transparent, productive and more accountable and efficient to public.

It will digitize and make all the Parliament documents, including debates, speeches, committee reports and questions, on the internet.

One of the major key component of the strategy devised for implementation is to create Project Monitoring Units both at Central as well as State levels.

The nodal agency for e-Vidhan mission is the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. It is taking all the necessary steps for rolling out the projects in all the states.

The project e-Vidhan was started with an aim to make India’s all government office paperless.

This would save trees which in turn will ensure clean environment which is necessary for living healthy life.

The initiative will also help India on a par with developed nations such as UK and the US, which have advanced digital archives online.

Significance:

Go Green - The project is in line with the ‘Go Green’ initiative of the Government which is the need of the hour. The environment-friendly initiative will make the process paperless and help in saving of trees.

Transparent functioning - The project will make the functioning of Parliament and State Legislature participative, responsive, transparent.

Efficient - The project will help in making the functioning more accountable to the public and the entire system more efficient.

Valuable resource - The availability of government database online can be effectively used by researchers, historians, activists.

Source: The Hindu

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GOVERNMENT TO ROLL OUT INTEGRATED INITIATIVE FOR PREVENTION & CONTROL OF VIRAL HEPATITIS

What Is It?

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has decided to roll out ‘Integrated initiative for prevention & control of viral hepatitis’ under National Health Mission (NHM) for prevention and control of viral hepatitis. The initiative will have budgetary support of more than Rs. 517 crore for three years. India is committed to eliminating the viral hepatitis by 2030.

Under this initiative, the ministry will scale up to 100 treatment and 665 testing centres over period of next three years in all states.

It will address components such as surveillance, awareness generation, immunisation, safe blood, injection safety infection control, diagnosis of viral hepatitis, capacity building, research and monitoring.

It is also proposed to establish 15 model treatment centres, which will function as referral centres for diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis C and assist in capacity building.

Viral hepatitis

Hepatitis means inflammation of the liver. Liver is vital organ that processes nutrients, filters blood, and fights infections. When the liver is inflamed due to viral hepatitis or damaged, its functions are affected. Hepatitis is most often caused by a virus and most common types of viral hepatitis are Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C.

Viral hepatitis is recognised as public health problem worldwide. India is committed to ending it by 2030. Heavy alcohol use, toxins, some medications, and certain medical conditions also can cause hepatitis.

It can also spread through use of injectable drugs, unsafe health care, unsafe injection practises and transfusion of unscreened blood and blood products.

Symptoms of hepatitis can include fever, fatigue, vomiting, loss of appetite, nausea, abdominal pain, dark urine, grey-colored stools, joint pain, and jaundice.

Treatment of Hepatitis depends on the diagnosis.

Source: The Hindu, Wiki

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RASHTRIYA GRAM SWARAJ ABHIYAN: CCEA APPROVES RESTRUCTURED CENTRALLY SPONSORED SCHEME

What Is It?

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, gave its approval for restructured centrally sponsored scheme of Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA).

The restructured scheme will focus on training, building infrastructure, stepping up initiatives for e-governance under e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

It will be implemented during period from April 2018 to March 2022 with total proposed cost of the scheme is Rs. 7255 crore with the Central Share of INR 4500 crore and that of State Share of INR 2755.50 crore.

The Finance Minister, in his budget speech for 2016-17 had announced the launch of a new restructured scheme of RGSA, for developing governance capabilities of Panchayati raj institutions to deliver on the sustainable development goals.

A committee under the chairmanship of the Vice Chairman-NITI Aayog was constituted to restructure the existing scheme of this Ministry as Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan.

The scheme will have both Central Component - National Level activities including “National Plan of Technical Assistance”, “Mission Mode project on e-Panchayat”, “Incentivization of Panchayats” and State component - Capacity Building of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).

The Central Component will be fully funded by the Government of India.

However, Centre: State funding pattern for State Component will be 60:40 for all States, except North East and the Hill States where Centre: State funding pattern will be 90:10

For all Union Territories (UTs) (with and without legislatures), the Central share will be 100 percent.

The implementation and monitoring of the activities of the scheme will broadly be aligned for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The main emphasis will be on Panchayats identified under Mission Antyodaya and 115 Aspirational districts as identified by NITI Aayog.

The Scheme will converge capacity building initiatives of other Ministries with the particular focus on those Ministries which will be impacted substantially by this Scheme.


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The Central Government and the State Governments will take action for performing and completing the activities approved for their respective roles.

The State Government will formulate their Annual Action Plans for seeking assistance from the Central Government as per their priorities and requirement.

The scheme will be implemented in a demand driven mode.


•••••••CABINET APPROVES DECLARATION OF SCHEDULED AREAS IN

RAJASTHAN UNDER FIFTH SCHEDULE

What Is It?

The Union Cabinet has given approval inclusion of certain areas in Rajasthan under Fifth Schedule to Constitution so that tribals living there can avail benefit of protective measures under its provisions.

The areas to be included comprises three complete districts Banswara, Dungarpur, Pratapgarh, nine tehsils, one block and 46 complete gram panchayats covering 227 villages in Udaipur, Rajsamand, Chittorgarh, Pali and Sirohi districts of Rajasthan.

The Rajasthan Government had requested Centre for extension of Scheduled Areas in the State under Fifth Schedule to Constitution.

On this request, Union Cabinet gave approval to declaration of Scheduled Areas in respect of Rajasthan under Fifth Schedule to Constitution by rescinding Constitution Order (CO) 114 dated 12th February 1981 and promulgation of new Constitution Order.

The promulgation of new CO will ensure that Scheduled Tribes of Rajasthan will get benefits of protective measures available under Fifth Schedule of Constitution.

No additional funds are required as to be expended on account of declaration of Scheduled Areas.

This will be part of Tribal Sub-Plan (or Tribal Sub-Scheme) within existing schemes of Central and State Government for more focused attention in Scheduled Areas for effecting speedy development.

Source: PIB

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2ND EDITION OF UNNAT BHARAT ABHIYAN LAUNCHED BY HRD MINISTRY

What Is It?The second edition of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan was launched by the HRD Ministry in New Delhi.Under this Abhiyan students from 750 higher educational institutions from across the country will adopt villages and visit them to get acquainted with the lifestyle of people there and the problems faced by them.The main objective of the program is to enable higher education institutions to work with the people of rural India in identifying development challenges and evolving appropriate solutions for accelerating sustainable development in rural areas. This initiative will provide an opportunity to the students to learn about the basic challenges faced by rural people and to bring out practical solutions for their betterment.The minister advised the students to involve local village people at every stage of problem identification and solving issues relating to health, cleanliness, waste management, plantation, financial inclusion, women and child development.India had witnessed the migration of rural population in the past, but now the process of sustainable development through the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0 will help to reverse this migration.In order to cover the 45,000 villages of the country under this movement, the participation of 8,252 higher education institutions is required.Under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan 2.0, the institutions have been selected on a Challenge Mode and the scheme has been extended to 750 reputed Higher Educational Institutes (both public and private) of the country.The scope for providing subject expert groups and regional coordinating institutes to handhold and guide the participating institutions has been strengthened.Institutes through their faculty and students, will carry out studies of living conditions in the adopted villages and assess the local problems and need.Each selected institute would adopt a cluster of villages/panchayats and gradually expand the outreach over a period of time.The institutes would be expected to closely coordinate with the district administration, elected public representatives of panchayat/villages and other stakeholders and will become a part of the process of development planning and implementation.

Unnat Bharat AbhiyanIt is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, with the intention to enrich Rural India. Under the program, the knowledge base and resources of the premier institutions of the country will be leveraged to bring in a transforma-tional change in the rural developmental process.

Source: PIB

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ECONOMY

INDIA RECEIVES FIRST LNG CONSIGNMENT FROM UNITED STATES

What Is It?

India has received first liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo comprising 1.2 Lakh tones of the Gas from United States. The cargo has landed at the Dabhol regasification terminal in Maharashtra.

The recent consignment of LNG has been imported from US under a long-term contract of 20 years. This USD 32 Billion contract was signed between India’s GAIL and America’s Dominion Energy Cove Point project in Maryland.

India has been so far importing LNG from Middle East, particularly Qatar. In recent times, USA has increased production of petroleum products and has become one of the largest exporters of petroleum products.

The import of LNG contracts is based on premise of diversifying India’s sources for clean energy.

The government is promoting a shift towards gas-based economy but the current domestic production and infrastructure don’t suffice.

With a bilateral trade of around USD 126.1 billion in 2017, currently, United States is among the largest trade partners of India.

The trade between two countries has increased at a compound annual growth rate of 11.4% from USD 20 Billion in 2000.

Source: PIB.

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ECONOMY

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INDIA BECOMES WORLD’S SECOND LARGEST MOBILE PHONE PRODUCER

What Is It?

India is now the second largest mobile phone producer in the world after China, as per information shared by Indian Cellular Association.

ICA referred to data available from market research firm IHS, China’s National Bureau of Statistics and Vietnam General Statistics Office.

Data states , India accounted for 11 per cent of global mobile production in 2017 compared to 3 per cent in 2014. India replaced Vietnam to become second largest producer of mobile phones in 2017.

With the rise in mobile phone production, imports of the devices in the country also reduced to less than half in 2017-18.

The fast track task force, a body under Ministry of Electronics and IT, has set target to achieve around 500 million mobile phone production in India by 2019, with value estimated to be around USD 46 billion.

The body has set the target to export 120 million mobile phone units with an estimated value of USD 1.5 million by the end of next year.

Source: PIB.

•••••••MULTI MODAL LOGISTIC PARK AT BALLI INAUGURATED

What Is It?

A Multi Modal Logistics Park at Balli Station near Madgaon in Goa state on Konkan Railway route was inaugurated by Konkan Railway.The park has been set up with an investment of Rs 43 Cr. as per the MoU entered between Konkan Railway & Container Corporation of India Ltd.(CONCOR).

Both Trade & Industry in Goa will greatly benefit from the economic transport solutions & state of the art facilities that CONCOR will be providing in partnership with Konkan Railway at this facility. In the first year of operations itself, the facility is likely to generate additional source of revenue for Konkan Railway.

The distance between JNPT port of Mumbai and Goa is around 650 Km. Presently containers from Goa reach JNPT via road in 30-40 hrs. After completion of Container

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Depot at Balli the containers could reach JNPT within 16 to 18 hrs which will not only save the time but also cost of transportation, relieving congestion on road and last but not least the fuel which in turn would affect reduction in pollution.

The facility is initially spread over 81,300 square meters with a scope for expansion as the traffic may grow in future. This Logistics Park will be able to handle both Domestic and Exim Container Traffic.

In addition to container traffic, commodities transported by both open and covered wagons can also be handled from here. 5000 square meters of Custom Bonded Warehousing space is also being created and a host of value added services like stuffing, repackaging etc will be available to its users.

Source: PIB.

•••••••INDIA RANKS 37TH IN GLOBAL STARTUP ECOSYSTEM IN 2017

What Is It?

Start up link released the report called Global Startup Ecosystem in which India secured 37th place out of 125 countries.

India’s rank shows that a lot of efforts are required in terms of ease of doing business, startup policies, and complicated tax compliance. India ranked below Latin American countries Mexico and Chile which stood at 30 and 33 respectively. Bengaluru, New Delhi, and Mumbai featured in the list top cities in the global ranking.

Top 5 Countries in Global startup ecosystem in 2017 are United States (1st), United Kingdom (2nd), Canada (3rd), Israel (4th) and Germany (5th). Small nations of less than 10 million inhabitants like Sweden (6th), Denmark (7th), Switzerland (8th), and Singapore (10th) were placed in the top 10.

Start up blink is a global startup ecosystem map with various registered startups, coworking spaces, and accelerators. Its report prepared in association with ANSYS Startup Program measures startup ecosystem strength and activity.

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It includes the global ranking index of 125 countries and 900 cities, measuring their startup ecosystem strength and activity. The ran kings of country are based on thousands of data points gathered from various sources, such as incubators and accelerators that appear on Start up Blink global ecosystem.

Source: PIB.

•••••••GOVERNMENT LAUNCHES DIGITAL INITIATIVE FOR EASE OF EXPORTS

What Is It?In line with the Digital India initiative, the government has developed three online portals to make it easier to export farm products from India and reduce transaction costs.

Potential for agricultural and food export will get a great boost due to these digital initiatives.

The digital platforms, developed by the Export Inspection Council, have integrated the entire export food chain by linking primary production, chain catch, aquaculture pond, dairy farms and apiaries.

The council is the official export certification body of the government and it has developed the portals for credible inspection and certification and to strengthen the confidence on Indian produce.

Processing units, testing laboratories, official controls and exports will have complete traceability. One lab one assessment portal provides unified approach to all stakeholders like accreditation bodies, regulators and laboratories by bringing them together on a common platform to aid simplified procedures.

The Export Alert Monitoring portal monitors non compliances raised by importing countries. The portal will enable monitoring of alerts and action taken by multiple organizations involved in initial certification in the food safety & biosecurity and analysing the trend, understanding the trade barriers to reduce the alerts and enhance the export trade.

To enhance the country’s analytical capability, the council has provided accredited Proficiency Testing (PT) providers at Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai by reducing dependency on foreign PT providers and ease of access.

Source: The Hindu

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ECONOMY

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SEBI EASES ALGORITHM TRADE RULES IN COMMODITY EXCHANGES

What Is It?

The Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has relaxed algorithm trading norms at commodity derivatives exchanges, markets regulator Sebi today raised the limit to process up to 100 orders per second by a user for such trade from the existing limit of 20 orders per second.

The decision has been taken after receiving representations from exchanges along with views of Sebis subcommittee - Commodity Derivatives Advisory Committee.

SEBI has asked exchanges to ensure that limit provided by it is subject to its ability to handle load. Besides, it also has decided to do away with requirement of empanelment of system auditors by the exchanges for system audit of algorithmic trading.

Algorithmic trading or algo in market parlance refers to orders generated at a super-fast speed by use of advanced mathematical models that involve automated execution of trade, and it is mostly used by large institutional investor.

This technology-driven trading enables traders to take advantage of any profit making opportunities arising in the market much before a human trader can even spot them. It was introduced in India in 2009.

At present, on National Stock Exchange (NSE), algorithm trades accounts close to 16% of all trades.

On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), it was 8.56% in January 2017.

Source: ET

•••••••INDIA BECOMES SECOND LARGEST MANUFACTURER OF CRUDE STEEL

What Is It?

In a major achievement, India has overtaken Japan to become the world’s second largest producer of crude steel in February, according to the Steel Users Federation of India (SUFI). At present, China is the largest producer of crude steel in the world, accounting for more than 50% of the production.

India’s crude steel production was up 4.4% and stood at 93.11 million tonnes (MT) for the period April 2017 to February 2018, compared with April 2016 to February 2017. This

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had helped India to overtake Japan and become the second largest producer of crude steel in the world, SUFI.

India overtook the U.S. in 2015 to become the third largest producer of crude steel. Attributing the growth in steel production to the policies undertaken by the government

The government has taken a host of steps to curb imports, push local demand with initiatives like ‘Make in India’ and implement GST and infrastructure projects, to encourage the domestic market.

According to the World Steel Association, India produced 8.4 MT of crude steel in February 2018, up 3.4% over February 2017.

The Steel Ministry was working pro-actively to prepare a road map to achieve 300 MT by 2030.

In addition, quick resolution of various big-ticket steel mills under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and the National Company Law Tribunal is expected to further hasten the process of achieving higher capacity utilisation.

Source: The HINDU

•••••••RBI CONSTITUTES INTER-DEPARTMENTAL GROUP TO STUDY LAUNCHING

OF FIAT DIGITAL CURRENCYWhat Is It?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted an inter-departmental group to study and provide guidance on feasibility to introduce fiat digital currency backed by it. It will be submitted by end-June 2018. Fiat currency is currency that a government has declared to be legal tender.

It is different from cryptocurrency or virtual currency like Bitcoin which is not legal tender and not backed by government.

The emergence of private digital tokens such as virtual currencies and rising costs of managing fiat paper and metallic money have led them to explore option of introducing ‘fiat’ digital currencies.

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The Bank of England was one of the first to initiate a global discussion on prospects for introduction on Fiat digital currency.

In November 2017, the central bank of Uruguay had announced to begin test to issue digital Uruguayan pesos. The Central bank of Sweden is however the closest to consider its implementation.

Fiat Digital Currency

Fiat Digital Currency (or Central bank digital currency) is the digital form of fiat money which is currency established as money by government regulation or law. As opposed to private digital tokens, fiat digital currency will be issued by central bank.

Fiat Digital Currency will constitute liability of central bank, and will be in circulation in addition to widely used paper and metallic currency. They will be based on blockchain technology which is backbone of unregulated virtual currencies like bitcoin.

They will be legal tender as compared to virtual currencies that raise concerns of consumer protection, market integrity and money laundering, among others.

Blockchain technology behind it has potential benefit for financial inclusion and enhancing efficiency of financial system.

Source: The Hindu, ET

•••••••RBI SWITCHES BACK TO GDP MODEL FROM GVA MODEL TO MEASURE

ECONOMYWhat Is It?

The Reserve Bank today switched back to the gross domestic product (GDP)-based measure to offer its growth estimates from the gross value added (GVA) methodology, citing global best practices.

Government had started analysing growth estimates using GVA methodology from January 2015 and had also changed the base year to 2018 from January.

While GVA gives a picture of the state of economic activity from the producers’ side or supply side, the GDP model gives the picture from the consumers side or demand perspective

Globally, the performance of most economies is gauged in terms of gross domestic product (GDP). This is also the approach followed by multilateral institutions, international

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analysts and investors, and primarily they all stick to this norms because it facilitates easy cross-country comparisons.

Even the Central Statistical Office (CSO) has started using GDP as the main measure of economic activities since January 15 this year

In the first bi-monthly policy of the new fiscal year 2018-19 wherein it left the key rates unchanged at 6 per cent citing rising inflation worries in the first half, RBI said GDP is projected to strengthen from 6.6 per cent in FY18 to 7.4 per cent in FY19-- with the economy clipping at 7.3-7.4 per cent in H1 and at 7.3-7.6 per cent in H2 with risks evenly balanced.

Source: PIB, ET

•••••••11 PUBLIC SECTOR BANKS PLACED UNDER RBI’S PCA FRAMEWORK

What Is It?

The Reserve Bank of India has placed 11 public sector banks under Prompt Corrective Action restricting lending activities of the banks over the issue of non-performing assets.

PCA framework restricts the amount of loans banks can extend, this will definitely put pressure on credit being made available to companies especially the MSMEs.

Large companies have access to the corporate bond market so they may not be impacted immediately. Small and medium enterprises will have to bear the brunt due to this move by RBI.

Prompt Corrective Action was initiated by Reserve Bank of India in April 2017. It restricts the bank to indulge in lending activities.

Banks under this framework are restricted from opening new branches, staff recruitment and increasing the size of their loan book depending on the risk thresholds set in PCA rules.

The 11 banks include Allahabad Bank, United Bank of India, Corporation Bank, IDBI Bank, UCO Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Dena Bank and Bank of Maharashtra.

Source: ET

•••••••

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GLOBAL ECONOMIC FREEDOM INDEX 2018: INDIA RANKS 130

What Is It?

India has jumped 13 places in the last one year to be at 130th spot in the latest annual Index of Economic Freedom. This index is released by an American think-tank, Heritage Foundation.

Last year in 2017 India was ranked at 143 among 180 countries with a score of 52.6

India is now ranked 30th among 43 countries in Asia Pacific region. India’s economic freedom score is 54.5, making its economy the 130th freest in the 2018 Index.

Its overall score has been increased by 1.9 points due to the improvements in judicial effectiveness, business freedom, government integrity and Physical health.

Global Economic Freedom Index

The index was released by top US-based Think Tank, The Heritage Foundation.

It ranks countries based on their score ranging from 0 to 100. 0 indicates the least free economy whereas 100 indicate the freest economy.

The score is based on 12 factors of economic freedom, which are separated into four categories, using statistics from international organizations like World Bank, IMF, Economist Intelligence Unit and Transparency International.

These 12 factors are property rights, government integrity, tax burden, judicial effectiveness, government spending, fiscal health, business freedom, monetary freedom, labour freedom, trade freedom, investment freedom and financial freedom.

Highlights of the 2018 Economic Freedom report

The world economy overall is rated moderately free and world average has now risen three and a half points, from 57.6 to 61.1 since the first edition of the index was released in 1995.

The index is topped by Hong Kong which has the freest economy according to this report.

List of top 10 countries in Global Economic Freedom Index report are Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Ireland, Estonia, UK , Canada and UAE.

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India is developing into open-market economy.

The overall development of India is undermined by corruption, underdeveloped infrastructure, restrictive regulatory environment and poor financial and budget management.

The Indian judiciary is independent but the courts lack staff and technology required to clear the backlog.

Source: ET

•••••••INDIA’S ECONOMY TO GROW 7.3% IN 2018-19 AND

7.6% IN 2019-20: ADB OUTLOOKWhat Is It?

The Asian Development Outlook 2018 released by Asian Development Bank (ADB) has projected India’s economic growth to 7.3% in 2018-19 fiscal and further to 7.6% in 2019-20 fiscal. The ADB’s growth projection is in line with that of rating agency Fitch, but is lower than Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) forecast of 7.4%.

Asian Development Outlook 2018

India’s growth Projection:

Indian growth is expected to pick up to 7.3% in fiscal year (FY) 2018 and 7.6% in FY2019, following the estimated 6.6% in FY2017. India will remain the world’s fastest growing major economy.

India’s growth will pick up with increased productivity post Goods and Services Tax (GST) and investment revival due to banking reform and corporate deleveraging take hold to reverse downtrend in investment.

The impact of demonetization of high-value banknotes has dissipated and full implementation of GST will bolster growth in India in 2019.

Indian economy grew 6.6% in last fiscal (2017-18) as it battled lingering effects of demonetisation in 2016, businesses adjusting GST in 2017 and subdued agriculture.

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Growth Projections in South Asia: It will remain among world’s fastest, driven by recovery in India, region’s largest economy. Asian consumers and commodity price rises will fuel higher inflation in the region.

China’s growth projection: It will slow down to 6.6% and 6.4% in 2018 and 2019 respectively as its domestic economic policy leans further toward financial stability and more sustainable growth trajectory.

Regional Inflation Projections: It is projected to average 4.6% in FY 2018 (2018-19), rising to 5% in FY 2019 with further firming of global commodity prices and strengthening of domestic demand. Regional consumer price inflation (CPI) is projected to accelerate to 2.9% in 2018 and 2019, from 2.3% registered in 2017. Inflation projections for next two years, however, are well below 10-year regional average of 3.7%.

Source: ET

•••••••INDIA’S FOREX RESERVES AT RECORD HIGH OF $424.864 BILLION: RBI

What Is It?

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), India’s forex (foreign exchange) reserves have touched record high of $424.864 billion in April 2018. The surge was due to massive spike in foreign currency assets (FCAs), a key component of the reserves.

The forex reserve had crossed $400-billion mark for the first time in September 2017, but has since been fluctuating.

The forex are reserve assets held by a central bank in foreign currencies. It acts as buffer to be used in challenging times and used to back liabilities on their own issued currency as well as to influence monetary policy.

Almost all countries in world, regardless of size of their economy, hold significant foreign exchange reserves.

The components of India’s FOREX Reserves include foreign currency assets (FCAs), Gold Reserves, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and RBI’s Reserve position with International Monetary Fund (IMF). FCAs constitute largest component of Indian Forex Reserves and are expressed in US dollar terms.

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FOREX Reserves in April 2018

Foreign currency assets (FCAs): $399.776 billion.

Gold reserves: $21.484 billion.

SDRs with IMF: $1.534 billion.

Reserve position with the IMF: $2.070 billion

Source: ET

•••••••AIIB TO INVEST $140 MILLION TO IMPROVE RURAL CONNECTIVITY

What Is It?

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has approved a $140 million loan for enhancing rural connectivity in Madhya Pradesh. The project, is co-financed with the World Bank.

It aims to improve the rural road connectivity and management for residents of about 5,640 villages who use the rural roads for daily activities. It also aims to improve durability and accessibility and enhance resilience to climate change of gravel surfaced rural road in Madhya Pradesh. It will also employ more women, thus contributing to gender equality and income generation.

It will benefit around 1.5 million rural residents through improved livelihood, education and mobility.

Livelihood of the rural population will be improved by expanding income earning opportunities through better farm-to-market road connections.

It is expected that it will not only improve the attendance of children in schools but also increase their enrolment in higher education programmes.

The road maintenance pilot under the project will employ more women, contributing to gender equality and income generation.

Investment in rural infrastructure will promote sustainable growth in India.

It would help in enhancing the overall development in the region and thus reducing the financial gap.

It will provide sustainable and safe last-mile connectivity to small villages and improve mobility of rural population of Madhya Pradesh.

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Significance:

Develop road safety management capacity with road accident data management system and pilot comprehensive road safety program.

Upgrade gravel surfaced roads to sealed surface standard.

Strengthen design and research and quality assurance capacity of implementing agency.

Provide additional linkages to villages with potential for high growth.

Enhance institutional capacity through implementing and upgrading rural road asset management system.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••WORLD BANK: INDIA’S GDP GROWTH TO BE 7.3% FOR 2018-19

What Is It?

The World Bank has projected India’s economic growth to accelerate to 7.3% in FY19 and 7.5% in 2019-20.

The World Bank India report, however, observed that a GDP growth of over 8% will require a continued reform and a widening of their scope.

It said that India’s GDP growth rate will return to 7.5% in two years’ time.

In order to sustain an 8% GDP growth rate, India requires a decisive structural reform momentum that succeeds in stimulating investment and export growth while maintaining macroeconomic stability.

The only durable episode of growth sustaining at levels above 8% for five continuous years is the one which lasted from 2004 to 2008, with the average growth rate reaching an unprecedented high of 8.8% a year.

The World Bank, in its twice-a-year South Asia Economic Focus report stated that the growth is expected to accelerate from 6.7% in 2017 to 7.3% in 2018.

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The growth will be subsequently stabilised supported by a sustained recovery in private investment and private consumption.

The World Bank noted that the country’s economy has recovered from the effects of demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax.

It acknowledged that disruptions from demonetisation and events surrounding the implementation of GST led to a setback in economic activity and a potentially larger negative effect on the poor and vulnerable.

It further stated that every month, the work force increases by 1.3 million people and India must create 8.1 million jobs a year to maintain its employment rate, which has been declining based on employment data analysed from 2005 to 2015, largely due to women leaving the job market.

Source: ET

•••••••CENTRE RAISES NABARD AUTHORISED CAPITAL TO

RS 300 BILLIONWhat Is It?

Lok Sabha has recently passed a Bill to enable exit of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from NABARD (National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development) as well as to increase the authorised capital to Rs 30,000 crore.

The authorised capital has been increased to approximately six times in order to increase its lending to the rural economy.

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, 2017 introduced by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

The bill proposes to empower the central government to increase authorised capital of the NABARD from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 30,000 crore.

The increase in authorised capital will enable NABARD to respond to its commitments with respect to the Long Term Irrigation Fund and on-lending to cooperative banks.

It will help NABARD to augment its business and enhance its activities, thus facilitating promotion of integrated rural development and securing prosperity of rural areas, including generation of more employment.

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RBI currently holds 0.4 per cent of the paid—up capital of NABARD and the remaining 99.6 per cent is held by the central government and this causes conflict in the central bank’s role as banking regulator and shareholder in NABARD.

RBI sold almost all its holding in NABARD to the central government in 2010.

In the Budget 2018, corpus of the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIFD) was enhanced by the government to Rs 280 billion with an overall objective of doubling farmers’ income by 2022.

This Bill is one of the major steps towards doubling the income of the farmers by 2022

NABARD has been financing a variety of rural infrastructure projects and plays an important role in rural India’s growth.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••INDIA IS WORLD’S SIXTH LARGEST ECONOMY AT $2.6

TRILLION, SAYS IMFWhat Is It?

India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the worth of the economy, clocked in at $2.6 trillion for 2017, according to the database of the International Monetary Fund’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) for April 2018.

That is well over the $2.5 trillion milestone that supposedly separates big economies from pretenders.

India is now the world’s sixth largest economy, displacing France. The five economies ahead are the United States, China, Japan, Germany and United Kingdom.

India is expected to grow at 7.4% in 2018 and 7.8% in 2019, making it fastest growing economy in the world. India has made progress on structural reforms in recent past, including through implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST), which will help reduce internal barriers to trade, increase efficiency and improve tax compliance.

Moreover, India’s high public debt and recent failure to achieve budget’s deficit target needs fiscal consolidation into e medium term to further strengthen fiscal policy credibility.

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The ongoing spring meetings of the World Bank-IMF group have brought a steady stream of good news for India, with, it must be acknowledged, the necessary and repetitive caveats, admonitions and prescriptions, such as the dire need for reforms in labour laws (read allow easy exit for failing enterprises, a key trigger for innovation) and land acquisition.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••BIS GRANTS 1ST LICENSE FOR LIQUID CHLORINE ON ALL INDIA BASIS

What Is It?

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has granted First Licence to M/s Gujarat Alkalies and Chemicals Ltd for Liquid Chlorine on All India basis.

This is the First Licence granted on All India basis. The licence has been made operative with effect from 12th April, 2018 for a period of one year.

Liquid Chlorine

This product is in liquid form and stored in metal containers.

It is usually used as a gas obtained by evaporating the liquid from the metal container.

Liquid chlorine is used mainly in paper, pulp, textile bleaching, water sterilization and manufacture of chemicals.

The move will facilitate industry to get a quality Liquid Chlorine with Standard Mark under BIS Certification Marks scheme.

Indian Standard (IS) 646:1986 for Liquid Chlorine, Technical prescribes the requirements and the methods of sampling and test for liquid chlorine.

BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards)

The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) is the National Standards Body of India working under the aegis of Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Government of India.

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It is established by the Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 1986. Its headquarters are in New Delhi.

It also works as WTO-TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade) enquiry point for India.

It is mandated for harmonious development of activities of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods and for matters connected.

It is involved in various activities such as standards formulation, product certification scheme, compulsory registration scheme, foreign manufacturers certification scheme, hall marking scheme, laboratory services, laboratory recognition scheme, sale of Indian standards, consumer affairs activities etc.

BIS has been providing benefits to national economy in number of ways such as by providing safe reliable quality goods, promoting exports and imports substitute, minimizing health hazards to consumers etc. through standardization, certification and testing.

Source: PIB

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ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

DELHI BECOMES FIRST CITY TO ROLL-OUT BS-VI FUEL

What Is It?

New Delhi becomes the first city in the country to switch from BS-IV grade fuels to BS-VI (equivalent to fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norms) with an aim to combat the rising levels of air pollution in Delhi-NCR region, petrol pumps in the capital from Sunday started supplying ultra-clean Bharat Stage VI grade fuel (both petrol and diesel).

Other cities like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad along with 13 major cities, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune, will also switch over to cleaner BS-VI grade fuel from January 1 next year. However, BS- VI fuel will be rolled out in rest of the country by April 2020.

The major difference in standards between the existing BS-IV and the new BS-VI auto fuel norms is the presence of sulphur.


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The newly introduced fuel is estimated to reduce the amount of sulphur released by 80 per cent, from 50 parts per million to 10 ppm. As per the analysts, the emission of NOx (nitrogen oxides) from diesel cars is also expected to reduce by nearly 70 per cent and 25 per cent from cars with petrol engines.

By switching to BS-VI, India will join league of US, Japan and European Union, which follow Euro Stage VI emission norms.

The major difference in standards between the existing BS-IV and new BS-VI auto fuel norms is presence of sulphur. BS-IV fuels contain 50 parts per million (ppm) sulphur, while BS-V and BS-VI grade fuel will have 10 ppm sulphur.

Thus, newly introduced BS VI fuel is estimated to reduce amount of sulphur released by 80%. It will also bring down the emission of NOx (nitrogen oxides) from diesel cars by nearly 70 % and 25% from cars with petrol engines.

Source: PIB.

•••••••FIMBRISTYLIS AGASTHYAMALAENSIS: NEW PLANT SPECIES DISCOVERED

IN WESTERN GHATSWhat Is It?

Researchers from the University College here have reported the discovery of a new plant species from the Western Ghats biodiversity hotspot. Classified as a sedge, the grass-like plant has been named Fimbristylis agasthyamalaensis, after the locality from which it was found.

The species was found during an expedition to the marshy grasslands in the Ponmudi hills within the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve. The survey was part of a project funded by the Women Scientists Division of the Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment (KSCSTE). The finding has been published in Phytotaxa, an international journal of botanical systematics and biodiversity.

A preliminary conservation assessment of the plant revealed that the plant is ‘critically endangered,’ according to IUCN criteria. The report says the species is highly prone to wild grazing.


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As the habitat falls within a tourism spot and the perimeter of a place of worship, the plant is also subject to anthropogenic pressures that could lead to its extinction in the absence of scientific conservation.

The new species belongs to the Cyperaceae family. In India, the genus is represented by 122 species, of which 87 are reported from the Western Ghats. Many of the known Cyperaceae species are medicinal plants or used as fodder.

During a critical analysis of the specimens, F.agasthyamalaensis was found to be similar to F.onchnidiocarpa in several characters including the nature of infloresence. But detailed studies revealed distinct features which led to the conclusion that it is a new species.Flowering and fruiting were observed from October to March.

Source: The HINDU

•••••••INDIA AT RISK OF FOOD SHORTAGE DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE

What Is It?

India is among the countries which are at the greatest risk of food insecurity due to weather extremes caused by climate change, a global study suggests.

Researchers led by the University of Exeter in the U.K. examined how climate change could affect the vulnerability of different countries to food insecurity, when people lack access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food.

The study, published in the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, looked at 122 developing and least-developed countries, mostly in Asia, Africa and South America.

The countries at the greatest vulnerability to food insecurity caused by a temperature spike of 2 degrees Celsius global are Oman, India, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia and Brazil, researchers said.

Climate change is expected to lead to more extremes of both heavy rainfall and drought, with different effects in different parts of the world,” said Richard Betts, a professor at the University of Exeter.

Such weather extremes can increase vulnerability to food insecurity, Warming is expected to lead to wetter conditions, with floods putting food production at risk.


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Wetter conditions are expected to have the biggest impact in south and east Asia, with the most extreme projections suggesting the flow of the river Ganga could more than double at 2 degrees Celsius global warming.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••INTERNATIONAL ENERGY FORUM IN NEW DELHI

What Is It?

India will host the 16th International Energy Forum (IEF) Ministerial Meeting from 10-12th April 2018 in New Delhi. Petroleum Ministers from 42 countries would attend the Meeting. The biennial IEF Ministerial Meetings are the world’s largest gathering of Energy Ministers who engage in a dialogue on global energy issues.

The IEF Ministerial meetings are informal dialogues, at both the political and technical levels, aimed to improve policy and investment decisions, and through increased knowledge and experience sharing.

Global energy security, sustainable and inclusive growth, energy access and affordability, fiscal regimes and legal reforms to attract investments in the energy sector and energy sector digitalization - benefits and challenges would be part of the deliberations among other important issues.

The International Energy Forum (IEF) is an inter-governmental arrangement set up in 1991, based in Riyadh which serves as a neutral facilitator of informal, open, informed and continuing global energy dialogue among its members comprising of energy producing and energy consuming states, including transit countries.

There are 72 member ountries of IEF, including India, covering all six continents, which are signatories to the Charter of the IEF. Its membership accounts for 90% of global supply and demand for oil and gas.

The Executive Board (EB) set up in 2002 comprising of 31 designated representatives of Ministers of the member states comprise the governing board of IEF. It meets twice a year.

International Energy Agency (IEA) and Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are non-voting members of the Executive Board. The EB is chaired by the Host State of the next biennial Ministerial Meeting .Currently, India is the Chair of the Executive Board of IEF.


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By virtue of being among the top 11 largest consumers of oil and gas (India is presently 4th), India has been the Permanent Member of the Executive Board since its set-up in 2002. India had earlier hosted the 5th IEF Ministerial in 1996 at Goa.

Apart from member countries, invitations have also been extended to 20 other countries where India has oil and gas engagements/interests.

Source: ET

•••••••EARTH’S BEDROCK: NEW SOURCE OF GLOBAL NITROGEN DISCOVERED

What Is It?According to recently published study, over quarter of nitrogen on Earth comes from weathering of planet’s bedrock. For centuries, prevailing science indicated that all of nitrogen on Earth available to plants comes from atmosphere. This study could greatly improve climate change projections.

The study has found that up to 26% of nitrogen in natural ecosystems is sourced from weathering of rocks, with remaining fraction from atmosphere. But input of this nitrogen source in global land system is unknown.

This study shows that nitrogen weathering is globally significant source of nutrition to soils and ecosystems worldwide.

Ecosystems need nitrogen and other nutrients to absorb carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution and there is limited amount of it available from plants and soils.

Rock-derived nitrogen may fuel growth of forests and grasslands, and allow them to sequester more CO2 than previously thought. However, according to this study not just any rock can leach nitrogen. Rock nitrogen availability is determined by weathering, which can be physical, such as through tectonic movement or chemical i.e. when minerals react with rainwater.

Significance:

The discovery will greatly improve climate change projections, which rely on understanding carbon cycle. It will also feed carbon cycle on land, allowing ecosystems to pull more emissions out of the atmosphere.

Mapping nutrient profiles in rocks for their carbon uptake potential can help drive conservation efforts.

Source: DNAINDIA

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ENVIRONMENT MINISTRY RELEASES DRAFT OF NATIONAL CLEAN AIR PROGRAMME

What Is It?

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has released the details of the NCAP (national Clean Air Programme).The draft proposes multiple strategies to reduce air pollution.

It aims to tackle increasing air pollution problem across the country in a comprehensive manner.

The basic objective of NCAP is to meet prescribed annual average ambient air quality standards at all locations in the country in a stipulated time frame. It does not mention of any specific target and time frame.

Under NCAP, the MoEFCC plans to take host of measures to bring down air pollution.

It aims to have efficient data dissemination and public outreach mechanism for timely measures for prevention and mitigation of air pollution.

Augment and evolve effective and proficient ambient air quality monitoring network across country to ensure comprehensive and reliable database.

To have feasible management plan for prevention, control and abatement of air pollution.

The Union Environment minister Harsh Vardhan said that under this plan, the ministry hopes to bring down air pollution in around 100 non-attainment cities by 50 percent in the next five years.

Non-attainment cities are those considered to have air quality worse than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

There is an absence of absolute pollution reduction targets of 35 percent in three years and 50 percent in five years which is a matter of concern.

The NCAP has proposed a budget and time-bound targets for its components.

Specific targets would be would be introduced after accessing how many targets can be met practically.

Under this proposed plan, the MoEFCC will augment air quality monitoring network, identification of alternative technology for real-time monitoring, set up of 10 city super network, indoor air pollution monitoring and management and air pollution health impact studies.


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Other measures include air quality forecasting system, issuance of notification on dust management, three-tier mechanism for review, assessment and inspection for implementation and national emission inventory.

NCAP has outsourced all the responsibilities to states by only focusing on 100 cities, and has ignored sectors like industry and coal thermal power plants, which are regulated by the central government.

For the NCAP to be effective, it has to take a regional approach and emissions from industry and power sectors have high impact at the regional-level and not at the city-level.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••SUNDERBAN RESERVE FOREST TO GET RAMSAR SITE STATUS

What Is It?

The Sunderban Reserve Forest is likely to be declared a Ramsar Site soon. The West Bengal government gave its approval to the State Forest Department to apply for recognition under the Ramsar Convention.

Now, State Forest Department through Central Government will apply to Ramsar Convention Secretariat.

Right now there is only one Ramsar site in West Bengal-- East Kolkata Wetlands.

Sunderbans was identified as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987 for its exclusive biodiversity.

Once it is conferred Ramsar site status, Sundarbans Reserve Forest will be largest protected wetland in the country.

There are currently 26 sites in India recognised as Ramsar wetland sites of international importance.

Sunderban Reserve Forest is spread across 4,260 sq. km. with over 2,000 sq. km. of mangrove forests and creeks making it ideal site of wetland.

The status wetland of international importance under Ramsar Convention will help in conservation of Sunderban which is facing threat from climate change and rising sea level.


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Sunderbans

Sundarbans is vast contiguous mangrove forest ecosystem in the coastal region of Bay of Bengal spread across India and Bangladesh.

It covers approximately 10,000 square kilometres of area of which 60% is in Bangladesh and remaining in India.

It comprise almost 43% of the mangrove cover in the country.

It is located in delta region of Padma, Meghna and Brahmaputra river basins.

It is the largest tidal halophytic mangrove forest in the world.

It was recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987.

Apart from being the world’s largest tiger habitat, the mangrove forest in the Sunderbans is remarkable for the protection it provides to people from tidal surge generated by cyclonic depression in the Bay of Bengal.

About one-third of the total area is used as protected area for the conservation of biological diversity.

Sundarbans forests are known for its self- Royal Bengal Tiger and other numerous species of animals, including Chital Deer, Crocodile and Snakes.


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Threats such as climate change, sea level rise, widespread construction and clearing of mangrove forests for fisheries is posing a danger to the Sunderbans.

Sunderbans is a contiguous ecosystem spread across India and Bangladesh and any adverse move will affect the entire ecosystem.

Ramsar convention

The Convention on Wetlands, called the Ramsar Convention, is an inter-governmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources. Adopted in 1971 in Ramsar, an Iranian city, the Convention came into force in 1975. Since then, almost 90% of UN member states have acceded to become “Contracting Parties”.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••CABINET APPROVES RESTRUCTURED NATIONAL BAMBOO MISSION

What Is It?

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved centrally-sponsored National Bamboo Mission (NBM) under the National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) for the remaining period of the 14th Finance Commission till 2019-20.

The CCEA has also approved empowerment of the executive committee for formulating the NBM guidelines and to make the changes, including cost norms, for various interventions with the approval of Ministry of Agriculture.

The mission is expected to establish about 4,000 treatment/product development units and bring an additional 100,000 hectare area under plantation.

An outlay of Rs 1,290 crore (with Rs 950 crore as central share) has been made for implementation of the mission during the remaining period of the 14th Finance Commission (2018-19 and 2019-20).

An official release said the scheme would benefit farmers and artisans engaged in bamboo sector including associated industries.


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It is proposed to bring about one lakh hectare area under plantation, it is expected that about one lakh farmers will benefit directly in terms of plantation,” the release said.

The mission will focus on development of bamboo in the northeastern region and states such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Karnataka, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The mission would bamboo plantation would contribute to optimising farm productivity and income and enhance livelihood opportunities of small and marginal farmers.

It said the mission would provide quality material, contribute to climate resilience and help in creating employment generation directly or indirectly in both skilled and unskilled segments.

The NBM, which was started as a centrally-sponsored scheme in 2006-07, emphasises on propagation of bamboo with limited efforts on processing, product development and value addition and the weak linkage between the producers and the industry.

National Bamboo Mission

NBM, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme was started in 2006-07. It was subsumed under Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) during 2014-15 and continued till 2015-16. It aims to promote growth of bamboo sector through area based regionally differentiated strategy.

Source: The Hindu

•••• •••UNCCD – ASIA PACIFIC REGIONAL WORKSHOP HELD

What Is It?

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) and the UN hosted four-day Asia Pacific Regional Workshop in New Delhi to monitor and report on land degradation. The four day workshop is aimed at enabling countries to efficiently report land degradation to the UNCCD (United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification).

It was attended by delegates from about 40 Asia Pacific countries, as well as representatives from 12 Indian states affected by land degradation, researchers and scientists from scientific institutions of national importance.

The Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan highlighted the critical need to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) by 2030.


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He urged the delegates to transform the Workshop into a milestone in combating land degradation, desertification, and drought.

In India, the total land area under land degradation is 96.40 million hectares, which is 29.32 percent of the country’s total geographical area.

India has around 70 percent of its total geographical area under drylands and about 30 percent of its land affected by land degradation and about 25 percent of the land affected by desertification.

Conditions of droughts and desertification result in a loss of 20 million tonnes of potential food grain production.

The workshop provided UNCCD member countries platform to submit their national report in time and in particular for Target 15.3 on Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). It provided diverse and multi-disciplinary knowledge sharing platform addressing desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD) issues.

It also provided opportunity to bring all key stakeholders from Asia to India and discuss key aspects of Reporting, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN).

The participants were trained in use of state-of-the-art tool called ‘Trends Earth’ developed by Conservation International, an NGO for combating land degradation. It will collect data that in turn will help policy-makers to prioritize areas for interventions for combating land degradation.

United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)

UNCCD was adopted in 1994 and entered into force 1996. It is only legally binding international agreement to address problem of desertification and other land issues.

It promotes good land stewardship and its end goal is to protect land from over-use and drought, so it can continue to provide food, water and energy.

The Convention addresses desertification and land issues specifically arid, semi-arid and dry sub-humid areas, known as drylands.

India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) is the nodal Ministry for this Convention, as well as other two Rio Conventions -United Nations Framework Convention to Combat Climate Change (UNFCC) and Convention on Biological Diversity, having their genesis in Earth Summit in 1992 in Rio De Janerio, Brazil.

Source: PIB

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

ISRO LOSSES CONTACT WITH COMMUNICATION SATELLITE GSAT-6A

What Is It?

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Saturday lost contact with the GSAT-6A + , India’s most powerful communication satellite, in less than 48 hours after it launched it on Thursday and it is trying re-establish link, sources attributed the failure to a power system failure.

The GSAT-6A satellite was to be placed in orbit in three phases after its successful textbook launch on March 29, 2018 onboard of GSLV-F08. ISRO had successfully completed first orbit raising operation of GSAT-6A Satellite on March 30, 2018, which saw satellite changing its closest and farthest point from earth besides changing its inclination.

The second orbit raising operation of GSAT-6A was successfully carried out on March 31, 2018, but during the third and final firing scheduled on April 1, 2018, communication with satellite was lost, hours after maintaining uncharacteristic silence on the health of the satellite.

GSAT-6A

GSAT-6A, is a high power communication satellite which was to have a mission life of about 10 years. It was to provide mobile communication for India with multi-band coverage facility-five beams in S-band and one beam in C-band.

The satellite has a six-metre wide antenna, the biggest used by an Isro communication satellite so far, meant for the S-band communication.


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This was to enable the satellite to provide mobile communication for the country through handheld ground terminals, which was not possible earlier as smaller antennas meant larger ground stations.

This is the second mission failure for Isro in six months, with the previous one being the PSLV-C39, a failure in whose heat shield failed to put into orbit Isro’s navigation satellite IRNSS-1H, which is scheduled for a fresh launch later this year.

Source: PIB.

•••••••TIANGONG-1: CHINA’S SPACE LAB PLUMMETS TO EARTH, BURNS UP

OVER PACIFIC OCEANWhat Is It?

As Chinese space lab Tiangong-1 the experimental space labre, regarded as a pioneer of China’s future space station-entered the Earth’s atmosphere on Monday, burning up in the skies over the central region of the South Pacific.

Tiangong-1

The Tiangong-1, measuring 10 metres long and weighing around 8.5 tonnes, was launched on September 29, 2011.

The spacecraft was in service for four and a half years, two and a half years longer than initially planned, making important contributions to China’s manned space cause and paving the way for China to become the third country in the world to build a permanent space station around 2022.

The important role of Tiangong-1 would go down in China’s space history. It had helped us accumulate precious experience in constructing space station.

The Tiangong-1, whose name translates as “Heavenly Palace 1,” had previously docked with Shenzhou-8, Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft, and was visited by six astronauts, including two female

Tiangong-1 was only a transitional platform between the spaceship and space station, it’s a key step for China to acquire the spacecraft docking technology, and it demonstrated the possibility of long-time space residence for the Chinese.


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In September 2016, China launched its new space laboratory, the Tiangong-2, which hosted its first manned mission with two astronauts on board between October and November.

China plans to start in 2019 the construction of a space station consisting of several modules, which is scheduled to conclude in 2022.

NASA’s first space station, Skylab, fell to Earth in an out-of-control re-entry in 1979, burning up harmlessly in the process, CNN reported.

The last space outpost to drop was Russia’s 135-ton Mir station in 2001, which made a controlled landing with most parts breaking up in the atmosphere.

Source: TOI

•••••••TRAI PROPOSES WI-FI GRID TO BRING DOWN COST OF INTERNET BY 90%

What Is It?

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has proposed concept of open architecture-based public Wi-Fi grid to bring down the cost of internet. It is much needed as broadband proliferation across country is important pillar of Digital India and Wi-Fi serves as cheapest option given low cost of equipment and free spectrum.

The Wi-Fi grid or mesh proposed by TRAI entails various providers coming together to address aspects like services, access, payment, and authentication. Its recommendations are backed by findings of pilot project conducted by regulator.

TRAI’s pilot and trials were aimed at demonstrating proof of concept of such architecture. It has suggested that any entity – company, proprietorship or non-entities – should easily be able to set up a public Wi-Fi access point.

The latest recommendations of TRAI follow BharatNet project being pursued by Central government that intends to provde Wi-Fi services to village panchayats across the country. Government has completed its first phase and expects the project to be completed by 2019.

Source: The Hindu

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INDIAN ORIGIN SCIENTIST DEVELOPS WORLD’S FIRST MICRO FACTORY FOR E-WASTE

What Is It?

IIT-trained Australian scientist of Indian origin Veena Sahajwalla has launched world’s first microfactory that can transform components from electronic waste items into valuable materials for re-use.

The e-waste microfactory uses green manufacturing technologies to turn many types of consumer waste such as glass, plastic and timber into commercial materials and products.

It is modular micro factory that can operate on site as small as 50 square metres and can be located wherever waste may be stockpiled. It has one or series of small machines and devices that uses patented technology to perform one or more functions in the reforming of waste products into new and usable resources.

The e-waste microfactory has number of small modules for processing e-waste and fits into small site. The discarded devices are first placed into module to break them down. The next module involves special robot for identification of useful parts.

Another module then involves using small furnace which transforms these parts into valuable materials by using precisely controlled temperature process developed via extensive research.

These transformed materials from the micro-factory includes metal alloys and range of micro materials

These can be used in industrial-grade ceramics and specific quality plastics from computers, printers and other discarded sources can be used to produce filaments suitable for 3D-printing applications.

The metal alloys can be used as metal components for new or existing manufacturing processes.

Source: ET

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PSLV-C41 SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES IRNSS-1I NAVIGATION SATELLITE

What Is It?

In its forty third flight, ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C41 successfully launched the 1,425 kg IRNSS-1I Navigation Satellite today from Satish Dhawan Space Centre SHAR, Sriharikota.

After a flight lasting about 19 minutes, the vehicle achieved a Sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit with a perigee (nearest point to earth) of 281.5 km and an apogee (farthest point to earth) of 20,730 km inclined at an angle of 19.2 degree to the equator following which IRNSS-1I separated from PSLV.

After separation, the solar panels of IRNSS-1I were deployed automatically. ISRO’s Master Control Facility (MCF) at Hassan, Karnataka took over the control of the satellite.

In the coming days, orbit manoeuvres will be performed from MCF to position the satellite at 55 deg East longitude in the planned Geosynchronous Orbit with an inclination of 29 deg to the equator.

IRNSS-1I is the latest member of the ‘Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC)’ system. NavIC, also known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), is an independent regional navigation satellite system designed to provide position information in the Indian region and 1,500 km around the Indian mainland.

A number of ground facilities responsible for IRNSS satellite ranging and monitoring, generation and transmission of navigation parameters, satellite control, network timing, etc., have been established in many locations across the country as part of NavIC.

Till now, PSLV has successfully launched 52 Indian satellites and 237 customer satellites from abroad.

Source: PIB

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INDIA’S FIRST HIGH-SPEED ELECTRIC LOCOMOTIVE OF 12000HP CAPACITY LAUNCHED

What Is It?

India’s first high-speed electric locomotive with 12000 horsepower (HP) engine has been flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Madhepura Electric Locomotive Factory in Bihar. It is first big Make-in-India project developed and completed by Indian Railways in collaboration with French firm Alstome.

India’s first high-speed electric locomotive has 12000 horsepower (HP) engine with maximum speed of 110 km per hour.

With the launch, India will join an elite list countries, including Russia, China, Germany and Sweden, that have 12,000 HP and above capacity electric locomotives. Till now, the most powerful electric engine in Indian Railways was of 6,000 HP.

The high horsepower electric locos are equipped with IGBT (IGBT based propulsion technology) based propulsion technology. They will have the ability to endure the tough Indian climate and will be pressed into service as freight trains. They will be used to transport coal and iron ore.

IGBT Technology

It has three-terminal power semiconductor device primarily used as electronic switch. It gives combined advantages of high efficiency and fast switching. It offers greater power gain than standard bipolar type transistor combined with the higher voltage operation and lower input losses.

The Rs 20,000 crore project is expected to roll out a total of 800 high horsepower locos over a period of 11 years.

The total project cost includes Rs 1,300 crore for setting up the factory at Madhepura and two loco maintenance depots at Saharanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Nagpur (Maharashtra), beside building 800 locos. The average cost of each locomotive is estimated to be Rs 25 crore.

Source: ET

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IIT-DELHI INSTALLS INDIA’S FIRST 5G LAB

What Is It?IIT-Delhi (IIT-D) has set up a radio lab with an array of antennas for “standardisation, research and manufacturing” of 5G equipment.

In an effort to establish India as a key global player in the standardisation, research and development and manufacturing of 5G equipment, a Massive MIMO radio laboratory has been set up at IIT Delhi and will be inaugurated on April 13. This will be the first such lab in India.

This 5G base station prototype will be used to test and verify algorithms, and also to develop a complete 5G base station, which can possibly lead to manufacturing of 5G base stations in India with support/ collaboration from industry. It will also be instrumental in generating skilled manpower in this technology.

In this Massive MIMO lab, several antennas are deployed at prototype base station to allow network to communicate reliably with very large number of mobile terminals simultaneously at same time and on same frequency channel.

The large antenna array also improves system power efficiency as mobile terminals will now be required to radiate 10 times lesser power than in 3G/4G systems. In regular 3G/4G base station technology, only few antennas are deployed.

5G 5G is wireless communication technology based on third-generation partnership project (3GPP). It is next generation mobile networks technology after 4G LTE networks.

It is expected to offer enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) through R15 repeaters that can cater to coverage requirement.

The 5G wireless technology will offer far greater upload and download speed i.e. 100 times faster internet data speed than current 4G networks.

It has potential to demonstrates spectral efficiency and potential for diversified services such as Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR).

Source: PIB

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GOVERNMENT CONSTITUTES 13 MEMBER TASK FORCE FOR FAST-TRACKING IMPLEMENTATION OF UAV TECHNOLOGY

What Is It?

The Union Government has constituted 13-member task force to prepare road map and fast-track implementation of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology or drones in the country.

It will be headed by Minister of State (MoS) for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha and will have representatives from governments, PSUs, industry and sectoral experts.

The task force will prepare road map, including outcomes, time lines, implementation and review mechanism and measurable metric for implementation of UAV technology.

Its road map will focus on Research & Development (R&D), acquisition and commercialisation, application and adoption in specific sectors, regulatory framework as well as preference for Make in India.

It will lay down implementable recommendations for central and state governments, industry and research institutions. It will clearly delineate the role of industry.

It will submit its report in six months. It will study global practices and interact with relevant stake holders, as required, for preparation of its report.

It will also have necessary consultations and interactions with Government organizations, industry and research institutions.

Source: TOI

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INDIAN MOBILE CONGRESS TO BE HELD IN NEW DELHI

What Is It?

India is going to host the India Mobile Congress (IMC) between 25-27 October 2018. This is going to be the second edition of the Indian Mobile Congress after the one held in 2017.

The India Mobile Congress 2018, is to be hosted by the Department of telecommunications (DoT) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

IMC was launched in 2017 to provide the platform for policy makers, industry and regulators to engage in meaningful deliberations to drive the future direction of the telecom sector.

The first IMC held in September 2017 was attended by around 2,000 delegates, 32,000 visitors, 152 speakers, 100 exhibitors and 100 start-ups.

The theme of second edition of IMC is NEW DIGITAL HORIZONS Connect, Create, innovate.

It expects participation of more than 200,000 professionals from telecom industry, encompassing 5G, start-up ecosystem, Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Smart Cities and allied industry sectors.

The conclave will comprise of Ministerial & Partner Programs in Digital India, Smart City, Emerging Technologies, Make in India Projects, Skill Harmonization, Business Innovation, Knowledge Sharing, etc.

There will be a technology showcase offering a glimpse into Virtual Reality, Connected Cars, m-Health, Smart Wearables, Smart Home, Artificial Intelligence, Drones, Robotics, Smart Energy, Internet of Things, Block chain, Machine Vision, Cloud Computing, Holography etc.


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The exhibition would feature more than 1,300 exhibitors.

IMC 2018 we will also see participation of countries from ASEAN (Association for Southeast Asian Countries) and BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) besides US, Canada and European Union (EU).

IMC

India Mobile Congress is one of the biggest Mobile, Internet and Technology event for the South-East Asia organized by COAI and DoT. It aims at building ideas, forging lasting Industry relationships, showcasing cutting-edge mobile technology & product trends, providing sectoral insights, industrial solutions, case studies & workshops.

Source: TOI

•••••••INDIAN MOSQUITOES SUSCEPTIBLE TO ZIKA VIRUS:

NIV STUDYWhat Is It?

Recent National Institute of Virology (NIV) study has found that Indian Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits dengue and chikungunya viruses is easily susceptible to zika virus. During the study it was found that Indian Aedes aegypti mosquito infected with African strain MR-766 of zika virus (ZIKV) can easily transmit infection. This study shows that Indian mosquitoes pick up ZIKV in natural way. They were experimentally infected with zika virus through oral-feeding route, which is natural mode by which mosquitoes get virus.

These infected mosquitoes, harbour the virus in their salivary glands were allowed to bite on infant and suckling mice.

The organs of sick mice were subjected to three detection tests histopathology, real-time RT-PCR, and Immunohistochemistry [IHC] to check for presence of virus.

The results of tests showed clinical symptoms of ZIKV such as trembling, solitary behaviour, nervous signs, no movement, and lethargy in mice after 4-5 days after being bitten by the infected mosquitoes.

Zika virus is emerging threat unless contained especially in areas where vector Aedes aegypti mosquito is in large numbers, including India. So there is need to explore possibilities for containing virus.


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This study will help to explore suitable model for understanding Zika virus’s natural transmission and disease progression.

Zika virus is vector borne disease transmitted primarily by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, the same mosquito that transmits dengue. It can also spread through blood transfusion and sexual contact.

It is capable of causing serious birth defects i.e. neurological disorders and foetal deformation known as Microcephaly in which infants are born with abnormally smaller heads. Besides a possible link between virus and Guillain-Barré syndrome a condition in which the body’s immune system attacks part of the nervous system) is also suspected. There is no specific treatment or vaccine currently available to treat Zika.

Source: TOI

•••••••SCIENTISTS IDENTIFY FOUR BACTERIAL STRAINS TO REMOVE SULPHUR

FROM FOSSIL FUELSWhat Is It?

Scientists from CSIR-Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology (CSIR-IMMT) have found four bacterial strains that remove sulphur from fossil fuel such as petroleum and coal. Sulphur is one of the major pollutants emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels.

The four bacterial strains are Rhodococcus rhodochrous, Arthrobacter sulfureou, Gordonia rubropertinita and Rhodococcus erythropolis.

They use dibenzothiophene, an organic sulphur compound which is major contaminant of fossil fuel as energy source thereby getting rid of sulphur.

They were selected from 10 bacterial strains with dsz genes to find novel bacterial strains that can selectively eliminate this organic sulphur. The dsz genes are central to sustainable bio-desulfurization (a non-invasive process of sulfur removal from fuels by means of living organisms).

The selected bacteria were grown in medium supplemented with dibenzothiophene and other nutrients required for growth.


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It was found that four bacteria were able to use almost 99% of sulphur compound in just 10 days. Researchers were also able to identify process of bio-desulfurization of these bacterial strains through specific pathway (4-S pathway).

The process of bio-desulfurization using these four bacterial strains is also eco-friendly and economical. These bacterial strains can be potentially used on commercial scale for removal of sulphur from fossil fuels on commercial scale.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••EXOPLANET-HUNTING TELESCOPE TESS LAUNCH BY NASA

What Is It?

NASA is all set to launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida on 18th April 2018. It was earlier scheduled to be launched on 16th April.

It was launched with the help of the launch vehicle SpaceX Falcon 9.

Over the course of its two-year prime mission, it is expected to discover thousands of worlds.

TESS is designed to hunt for alien planets circling stars relatively close to the sun.

It will identify exoplanets orbiting the brightest stars just outside the solar system.

TESS will follow in the footsteps of NASA’s prolific Kepler space telescope, which has discovered 2,650 alien worlds to date — about 70 percent of all known exoplanets.

Sixty days after TESS establishes an orbit around Earth, after instrument tests, the two-year mission will officially begin.


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TESS will orbit Earth (on a looping, 13.7-day path), whereas Kepler circles the sun.

Like Kepler, TESS will use the “transit method” to find exoplanets, noticing the tiny dips in brightness when these worlds cross their parent stars’ faces from the telescope’s perspective.

Soon, Kepler’s mission will end, and it will be abandoned in space, orbiting the sun and never getting any closer to Earth than the moon.

TESS will survey an area 400 times larger than what Kepler observed. This includes 200,000 of the brightest nearby stars.

TESS will begin by looking at the Southern Hemisphere sky for the first year and move to the Northern Hemisphere in the second year.

At the top of TESS there are the cameras beneath a cone that will protect them from radiation.

The cameras can detect light across a broad range of wavelengths, up to infrared. This means TESS will be able to look at many nearby small, cool red dwarf stars and see whether there are exoplanets around them.

Source: The Hindu

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DISASTER MANAGEMENT

NDMA TO CONDUCT MULTI-STATE EARTHQUAKE MOCK EXERCISE IN NORTH EAST

What Is It?

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will conduct a mock exercise on earthquake preparedness in three North Eastern States - Tripura, Nagaland, Mizoram.

The exercise, which is being held in collaboration with the respective State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs), will help participating agencies and stakeholders in evaluating the effectiveness of their disaster response plans.

This exercise is significant as the participating States fall under seismic vulnerability zone V.

Concerned officials from various stakeholder departments such as the Army, Health, Police, Firefighting, Civil Defense, Transport, Electricity, Public Relations and Traffic Control attended these preparatory conferences.


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Preparedness measures required to be taken at individual, societal and institutional levels to minimise the effects of an earthquake were discussed. NDMA experts briefed the stakeholders on the Incident Response System (IRS), which attributes roles and responsibilities at each level to improve coordination. This helps enhance preparedness and ensure a swift response by reducing adhocism in response.

Table Top Exercises will be conducted in all the three States before the actual mock exercise. The mock exercise will be followed by a detailed debriefing session where gaps and shortcomings, if any, for improving preparedness will be discussed. Independent observers will be deployed to monitor the entire exercise.

The exercise will help in filling gaps, ensuring better communication and improving coordination among various stakeholders and agencies. It will also generate awareness among the local population about the Do’s and Don’ts to be followed before, during and after an earthquake.

Capacity building and improving disaster preparedness is an ongoing exercise. NDMA has so far conducted more than 600 mock exercises for various disaster situations across the country in its efforts to improve preparedness and response during for various disaster situations.

Source: PIB

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DEFENCE & INTERNAL SECURITY

MOU BETWEEN INDIAN ARMY AND HDFC BANK

What Is It?

A Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) was signed between the Indian Army and HDFC Bank on the Defence Salary Package on 03 Apr 2018. The first MoU between HDFC Bank and the Indian Army was signed in 2011 and was renewed on 13 Mar 2015. The current MoU is tailor made to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and families.

Currently Indian Army has MoUs on Defence Salary Package with 11 public and private sector banks. MoUs are considered for inception and renewal with banks on analyzing their utility and suitability to the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and families.

Army is hoping that this MoU will benefit a large number of serving and retired Army personnel who are having their accounts with HDFC bank; and also provide them an opportunity to access modern banking facilities.

Under the current MoU apart from other benefits the Army personnel will get free personal accident death cover and free permanent disability cover of Rs 30 lakhs, free educational cover of upto Rs 1 Lakh per year for four years for education of dependent child in case of accidental death of defence personnel and 100% processing fees waived for Car Loans and Personal Loans.

Source: PIB.

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SAHYOG-HYEOBLYEOG 2018: INDIA, SOUTH KOREA JOINT ANTI-PIRACY, SEARCH AND RESCUE EXERCISE

What Is It?

India, South Korea joint anti-piracy, search and rescue exercise ‘Sahyog-Hyeoblyeog 2018’ was conducted in Bay of Bengal off the Chennai coast in Tamil Nadu. The exercise was conducted between Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Korean Coast Guard (KCG) as part of proposed establishment of MoU between them to improve maritime security in Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

The exercise aimed at developing working level co-operation and enhanced inter-operability between coast guards of both countries in fields of maritime search and rescue.

The exercise witnessed varied scenarios such as prohibition of a pirate vessel, cross boarding, firefighting, hijacking of merchant vessel and its subsequent rescue and search and rescue (SAR) demonstration.

For the exercise, ICG had deployed Dornier aircraft along with ICG Shaurya, Rani Abbakka, C-423, C-431. KCG had deployed its lone ship BADARO.

As part Rani Abbakka, C-423, C-431. KCG had deployed its lone ship BADARO. As part of the exercise, ships of ICG and KCG undertook strategic exercises and drills to counter piracy and carry out maritime law enforcement tasks.

Dornier aircraft deployed by IGC undertook out sea-air coordinated search along with five ships. KCS ship took part in this search and rescue exercise.


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DRDO AT DEFEXPO 2018: EXHIBITING THE TECHNOLOGY MIGHT

What Is It?

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), with a saga of achievements in last 60 years would be showcasing its flagship products during the DefExpo India – 2018, held in Chennai from 11 – 14 April 2018.

An exclusive India Pavilion is being set up for the first time in DefExpo, which will showcase the combined strength of DRDO, Public and Private Sector in defence manufacturing.

DRDO is the largest exhibitor showcasing its innovations in all formats i.e. indoor, outdoor and live demo. DRDO is putting up flagship products and systems in two broad categories, one pertaining to technologies ready for transfer to industries for productionisation and the other pertaining to technologies ready for exports.

DRDO will be participating in the live demo for some of its indigenously designed and developed products, which includes Light Combat Aircraft – Tejas, Main Battle Tank Arjun MK-II, Arjun Armoured Recovery and Repair Vehicle (ARRV), T-72 Trawl, T-72 Bridge Layer Tank, Wheeled Armoured Platform (WhaP), Mobile Surveillance System and Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS).

The outdoor exhibits include Nirbhay Missile System with Launcher, Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicle (AUGV), MBT Arjun Mk-I, Astra Missile, Low Level Transportable Radar (LLTR) System, Medium Power Radar (MPR) System, Convoy Jammer, Multipurpose Decontamination System (MPDS), Varunastra - Heavy Weight Anti Submarine Electric Torpedo, Bio-Toilet, etc.

The indoor exhibit area would be having more than 400 exhibits. The exhibits include technologies pertaining to aeronautics, missiles, armaments, combat vehicles, naval systems, electronics, information warfare and life sciences.


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The pavilion also presents an array of digital experiences including war game simulation zone, augmented reality, virtual reality, physical simulators, etc.

During the event, Transfer of Technology (ToT) of DRDO developed products to Private Industry and DPSU Partners will be done in the presence of Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman on 11 April 2018 at the venue. Some of these include: ASTRA Missile, Varunastra - Heavy weight torpedo, Anti Thermal Anti Laser Grenade, Identification of Friend & Foe (IFF), HUMSA – UG, ABHAY Sonar, etc. A record number of 200 ToTs in the last three years with revenue generation to the tune of Rs 190 crore by DRDO has spurred the growth of defence manufacturing sector, echoing the theme of DefExpo - 2018, ‘India : The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’.

DRDO’s participation in DefExpo – 2018 is expected to provide a platform for collaboration with industry and open out opportunities for export of defence technologies.

DRDO welcomes one and all to its pavilion to get a first-hand account of capabilities of our nation in the area of advanced defence technologies and opportunity to share the pride of the vibrant DRDO community.

Source: PIB

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BOEING, HAL, MAHINDRA TIE UP TO BUILD F/A-18 SUPER HORNET FIGHTER JET IN INDIA

What Is It?

Boeing India subsidiary of US aerospace manufacturer Boeing, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) and Mahindra Defence Systems entered into agreement to manufacture fighter aircraft F/A-18 Super Hornet in India.

Three companies exchanged Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) for Make in India fighter at on-going ‘DefExpo’ in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.


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The partnership will come into effect after Ministry of Defence selects Super Hornet in any one of two ongoing fighter procurements deal viz. procurement of 57 multi-role carrier borne fighters (MRCBF) for Indian Navy or 110 multi-role fighters for Indian Air Force (IAF).

If they win contract in above one of the deal, a JV company will be floated over next few months for design and production of aircraft.

The partnership will bring Boeing, HAL and Mahindra Defence System global scale and supply chain, best-in-industry precision manufacturing processes as well as unrivalled experience in designing and optimising aerospace production. Super Hornet is US Navy’s main carrier borne fighter.

The partnership comes in backdrop of stiff competition between global aerospace companies looking to secure $15 billion (Rs. 97,950 crore) deal to sell 110 fighter jets to India.

The fighter jets, predominantly made in India, will be sold to IAF under government’s ‘strategic partnership’ policy, designed to encourage foreign companies transfer technology and manufacturing know-how to domestic defence equipment manufacturers.

According to MoD’s proposal for fighter jets, at least 85% or 94 aircraft have to be made in India.

Source: PIB

•••••••IAF CONDUCTS WAR EXERCISE “GAGAN SHAKTI”

What Is It?

The Indian Air Force conducts its biggest war exercise “Gagan Shakti” at Hindon airbase.

Gagan Shakti 2018 is IAF’s biggest ever exercise that mobilised more than 1100 combat, transport and rotary wing (helicopter) aircraft. More than 300 officers and 15000 air warriors are participating in the exercise.

The aim of this exercise is real time coordination, deployment and employment of Air Power in a short and intense battle scenario.

Indian Air Force will exercise the entire machinery during the exercise to validate its concept of operations and war waging capability. It will hone the war fighting skills of the air warriors in a real time scenario.


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The exercises will be conducted from 14th-22nd April 2018 in two stages.

The first stage will test the war preparedness along the northern border whereas the second stage would involve the western border.

300 officers along with 15,000 soldiers of the Air Force, 1100 fighter and transport aircrafts from Air Force and navy are participating in this exercise.

All types of fighter jets from the Indian Air Force fleet are participating in the exercises.

For the first time “Tejas”- the indigenously made light combat aircraft will be participating in the exercise.

Other aircrafts participating in the exercise are - Sukhoii-30 S, MiG-21, MiG-29, Jaguar, Miraj, C-17 helicopters, C-130 J super Hercules etc.

Considering the future threats, and recognising the need of participation by the Air Force for actions in the marine region, the Indian navy also has been included in the exercises.

Paired with the Air Force jets, the ‘MiG-29K’ of the Indian Navy will conduct war exercises in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands region.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••GOVT. FORMS DEFENCE PLANNING COMMITTEE (DPC)

What Is It?

A Defence Planning Committee (DPC) has been formed by the Union Government to formulate military, security strategy, to draft capability development plans and to supervise foreign deals.

The Committee will be under the Chairmanship of the National Security Advisor, Mr. Ajit Doval.

The Modi government has revamped the existing defence planning system by establishing a Defence Planning Committee (DPC).

Considering the complex security environment and volume of expenditure on national defence, it was imperative to have strong defence planning mechanism.

The present system was found insufficient to provide rigour necessary for planning process. So it was mandated to create an institutional mechanism which can undertake comprehensive and integrated planning of higher defence matters.


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The DPC will be a permanent body that will prepare military doctrines defining Indian military objectives for the future.

It will drive the country’s military and security strategy, draft capability development plans as well as guide and accelerate defence equipment acquisitions.

The new measure is likely to have a far reaching consequence on the way defence planning is undertaken and on defence preparedness.

The Committee will be chaired by NSA Ajit Doval and will include Chairman Chiefs of the Staff Committee (COSC), three service chiefs, the Defence Secretary, Secretary Expenditure (in the Finance Ministry) and Foreign Secretaries in the team.

It will be a permanent body and it will prepare draft national security strategy besides undertaking strategic defence review and formulating international defence engagement strategy.

The Committee will operate through four sub-committees on-

Policy and Strategy

Defence Diplomacy

Plans and Capability Development

Defence Manufacturing Ecosystem

The membership and the terms of reference of the sub-committees will be finalized separately.

Foreign Secretary and Expenditure Secretary being member of DPC will help to overcome problems of coordination between various ministries on matters of national security.

Source: The Hindu

•••••••AFSPA REVOKED IN MEGHALAYA, PARTS OF ARUNACHAL

What Is It?

The Union Home Ministry has withdrawn the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) totally from Meghalaya as well as 8 out of 16 police stations in Arunachal Pradesh.

This withdrawal will effect from 31st March 2018.

Among the eight North Eastern states, AFSPA is now applicable only in Nagaland, Manipur (excluding Imphal), Assam and parts of Arunachal Pradesh.


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According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, till September 2017, 40 per cent of Meghalaya was under AFSPA.

This included a 20 km stretch of the state’s border with Assam which was later reduced to 10 km after a consultation with the state government in September 2017.

Another review was held recently after which the decision to revoke AFSPA was taken.

This decision has been taken due to significant improvement of the security situation in the state.

AFSPA was totally withdrawn from all areas of Meghalaya from April 1.

This decision has been taken due to the significant improvement of the security situation in the state in the last 4 years.

The year 2017 recorded the lowest number of incidents of insurgency and casualties among civilians and security forces since 1997.

Between 2014 and 2018, there has been a 63 percent decline in insurgency incidents in NE; 83% fall in civilian deaths; and 40 percent fall in security personnel killings.

The Act has, however, been extended by another six months in three eastern districts of Arunachal Pradesh — Tirap, Longding and Changlang — which border Myanmar.

These three districts have been under the AFSPA since January 2016.

AFSPA

AFSPA stands for the Armed Forces Special Powers Act which gives special rights and immunity to security forces in carrying out various operations in “disturbed” areas. It gives security personnel the power to search premises and arrest without warrant, to use force even to the extent of causing death. It also provides cover to forces from prosecution and legal suits without the Central government’s sanction.


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LCU L53: INDIAN NAVY INDUCTS THIRD LANDING CRAFT UTILITY AT PORT BLAIR

What Is It?

The Indian Navy has commissioned the third ship of the Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Mk-IV project, INLCU L53, at Port Blair in Andaman.

The vessel was designed and constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE) as part of a contract for a total of eight planned LCU Mk IV Class vessels for the navy.

LCU MK-IV ship is an amphibious ship with a displacement of 830 Tons and is capable of transporting combat equipment such as Main Battle Tanks Arjun, T72 and other Armoured Vehicles.

The ship is fitted with state-of-the-art equipment and advanced systems such as the Integrated Bridge System (IBS) and the Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS).

The indigenous CRN 91 Gun with Stabilised Optronic Pedestal provides the ship the requisite offensive capability for undertaking patrolling in addition.

The ship, commanded by Lt Cdr Vikas Anand, has a complement of five officers and 45 sailors. Capable of carrying 160 troops in addition, the ships would be based in the Andaman and Nicobar Command bolstering the Command’s capability in undertaking multi role activities such as beaching operations, HADR, search/ rescue, and supply and replenishment of distant islands.

The remaining five ships of the project are in an advanced stage of construction and are scheduled to be inducted into Indian Navy over the next year and half. Induction of these ships will contribute to the nation’s maritime security needs and would accomplish India’s quest for self-reliance in shipbuilding.

Source: PIB

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MHA TO RELAX PROTECTED AREA PERMIT REGIME FROM NAGALAND, MIZORAM, MANIPUR

What Is It?

The home ministry has decided to relax the six-decade-old Protected Area Permit (PAP) regime from Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.

This would be with effect from 1st April 2018.

The move is being initiated to promote tourism, create job opportunities for the locals and generate revenue for the states.

Foreign tourists, except those from Pakistan, China and Afghanistan, would now be allowed to visit these places without a special permit.

Protected Areas

Under the Foreigners (Protected Areas) Order, 1958, all areas falling between the Inner line and the International Border of some states were declared as protected areas.

The protected areas currently include whole of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim, besides parts of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.

Some parts of Sikkim fall under the protected area regime while others under the restricted area.

Protected Area Permit

As per MHA’s December 2010 circular, Manipur, Mizoram and Nagaland were excluded from protected area regime initially for a period of one year from January 2011, subject to some conditions.

Under Protected areas Regime, foreign nationals are not normally allowed to visit protected or restricted area unless Government is satisfied that there are extra-ordinary reasons to justify their visit.

Except for the citizens of Bhutan, every foreigner who desires to enter and stay in protected or restricted area, is required to obtain special permit (PAP) from competent authority.

In cases of the citizens of Afghanistan, China and Pakistan and foreign nationals of Pakistani origin, no permit can be issued without the prior approval of the Union Home Ministry.


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Necessary powers have been delegated to various authorities to issue such special permits without the prior approval of the Home Ministry to facilitate foreign tourists.

In cases of foreign diplomats, including the members of the United Nations and international organisations holding diplomatic or official passports, the special permits to visit such protected or restricted areas are issued by the Ministry of External Affairs.

Source: The Outlook

•••••••LCA TEJAS SUCCESSFULLY FIRED AN AIR-TO-AIR BVR MISSILE

What Is It?

The indigenously developed LCA (Light Combat Aircraft) Tejas has successfully fired Derby an air-to-air BVR (Beyond Visual Range) missile off the Goa coast.

LCA Tejas successfully fired an Air-to-Air BVR missile

It demonstrated its overall capability as an effective combat jet, and inched closer to receive final operational clearance. Tejas was earlier given clearance for deployment of armaments and other missiles.

Tejas has now successfully completed a series of captive flight trials to clear the Derby for full operational capability in the entire final operational clearance (FOC) envelope.

The aircraft was tracked by two other Tejas aircraft in close formation to capture the firing event in the specially instrumented high-speed cameras for detailed analysis.

The entire planning, practice and final firing was carried out by DRDO’s autonomous society – Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and its National Flight Test Centre (NFTC).


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Tejas has qualified for the armaments and missile release related trials.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) had ordered 40 Tejas Mark-1 version and a request for proposal (RFP) was issued to HAL by the IAF in December for procurement of another batch of 83 Tejas at a cost of around Rs 50,000 crore.

IAF tested its war-waging capabilities in a possible two-front scenario involving Pakistan and China during Gagan Shakti 2018.

During the Gagan Shakti 2018 exercise, eight Tejas jets were deployed.

The IAF has already committed to buying at least 123 Tejas fighters for Rs 75,000 crore from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Derby BVR missile

It is a short to medium range BVR Air-to-Air missile. It is developed jointly by Israeli armament development agency Rafael and Israel Aircraft Industries MBT has a maximum effective range of about 50 km.

It is an active radar air-to-air missile for the fighter aircraft and has the capability to be launched at a target day or night and in all weather conditions.

It has look-down/shoot-down capability, fire and forget mode and an advanced ECCM tailored to the customer’s operational requirements. It is a dual-use missile (air-to-air and surface-to-air).

The missile’s light weight allows it to be adapted to various modern fighter aircraft.

Source: PIB

•••••••ACQUISITION OF NAG MISSILE SYSTEM

What Is It?

Defence Minister cleared capital acquisition proposals of DRDO’s NAG missile system (NAMIS) for Indian Army and 127 mm calibre guns for Indian Navy.

The capital acquisition proposals were cleared at a meeting of the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

DAC is Defence Ministry’s highest decision-making body on procurement.


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The DAC approved procurement of thirteen 127 mm calibre guns for the Navy from BAE Systems of the United States at a cost of over Rs 3,000 crore.

The NAG missile system, indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), will be procured for the Army at a cost of Rs 524 crore. The system includes a third generation anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) along with the missile carrier vehicle (NAMICA).

The NAG missile has top attack capabilities that can effectively engage and destroy enemy tanks during day and night.

It will give a quantum boost to the Army’s capability against enemy armour.

The Indian army is currently using second generation Milan 2T and Konkur ATGMs and has been looking for about 8000 third generation ATGMs, which are important for stopping advancing enemy tanks.

The thirteen 127 mm calibre guns for the Navy will be fitted on board the newly constructed ships and will enable naval vessels to provide fire support.

These guns have engagement range of 24 kilometres, which could be extended further by using Extended Range Gun Munitions (ERGM).

The DAC also reviewed the progress of the DRDO programme to develop indigenous Airborne Warning and Control System.

Source: PIB

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SPORTS

CWG 2018 CONCLUSION : INDIA AT NO. 3

What Is It?

India has showcased a tremendous participation and victory in the XXI Commonwealth Games being held in Gold Coast, Queensland.

The next CWG 2022 are to be held in Birmingham, England from 27th July to 7th August.

With 26 gold medals, the 2018 Commonwealth Games has become India’s third most successful of all time.

India’s best remains 101 in New Delhi (2010), followed by 69 in Manchester (2002).

With 200 athletics, India performed brilliantly throughout the tournament.

India finished third on the medal tally with the most number of Gold medals achieved in Shooting.

The flag bearer for India in the inaugural ceremony was P V Sindhu whereas in the closing ceremony it was M C Mary Kom.

India won 16 medals in shooting (highest).

Source: ET

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SPORTS

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ART AND CULTURE

TWO UNKNOWN LANGUAGES WALMIKI AND MALHAR DISCOVERED

What Is It?

Prof Panchanan Mohanty of the University of Hyderabad has discovered two unknown languages called Walmiki and Malhar. Mohanty who is a professor of linguistics discovered the languages hidden from linguists.

Walmiki and is spoken in the district of Koraput of Odisha and on the bordering districts of Andhra Pradesh. The analysis showed that the language is an “isolate”, and does not belong to a particular family of languages, The speech community claims descent from the great Indian saint-poet Valmiki”

Malhar is spoken in a remote and isolated hamlet about 165 km away from Bhubaneswar. Malhar belonged to the “North Dravidian subgroup of the Dravidian family of languages” and that it has close affinities with the other North Dravidian languages like Malto and Kurux spoken in West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Though less than 100 speak the language Malhar, they are very fluent as they live completely detached from the Odia speaking neighbours. They survive on daily labour and collections from the nearby forest, sayd Mohanty.

The discovery has been made and announced by Panchanan Mohanty of the Centre for Endangered Languages and Mother Tongue Studies at the UoH. He has collected data, did a preliminary analysis and published a paper in the proceedings of the XX Annual Conference of the Foundation for Endangered Languages, UK.

Source: The Hindu

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ART AND CULTURE

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ADOPT A HERITAGE PROJECT” – DALMIA BHARAT ADOPTS RED FORT

What Is It?

Dalmia Bharat Limited has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Tourism for adoption of Red Fort monument under the “Adopt a Heritage” project.

With an estimate of over Rs. 5 crores per year, Dalmia Bharat Limited joins ‘Monument Mitras’ from other various private sector companies.

It will look after the operations and the maintenance of this heritage site for the next five years.

This project is a unique endeavour by the Union Ministry of Tourism in collaboration with the ASI (Archaeological Survey of India).

The project was launched in September 2017 to preserve India’s rich cultural heritage.

It envisions in developing monuments, heritage and tourist sites across India so as to enhance their tourism potential and cultural importance.

It aims to add value to India’s heritage sites in every possible manner.

Under it, selected public sector companies, private sector companies and individuals will develop tourist amenities at heritage sites.

They are called as ‘Monument Mitra’ and they adopt the sites essentially under their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

The basic objective of this scheme is to provide world class tourist facilities at various natural and cultural heritage sites, monuments and other tourist sites. It aims to make these selected sites tourist friendly, enhance their tourist potential and cultural importance in planned and phased manner across the country.

Under the project, Dalmia Bharat will construct, landscape, illuminate and maintain activities related to the provisions and development of the tourist amenities at the Red Fort.

This includes various basic and advanced amenities such as public conveniences, clean drinking water, cleanliness of the monument, accessibility for all, signage, cloakroom facilities, illumination and night viewing, surveillance system etc.

In addition to this, Dalmia Bharat will also introduce other key amenities for the visitors like App based Multi lingual Audio-Guide, Digital Interactive Kiosk, Digital (LED) screening, free W-Fi and cafeteria etc.

Source: PIB

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ART AND CULTURE

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AGRICULTURE

GOVERNMENT INKS AGREEMENT WITH WORLD BANK FOR MAHARASH-TRA PROJECT FOR CLIMATE RESILIENT AGRICULTURE

What Is It?

The Maharashtra government has approved a Rs 4,000-crore project aimed at promoting climate-resilient agriculture, to be partially funded by the World Bank.

The project, named Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjivani Yojna, will be implemented in 5,142 villages across 15 districts. It will roll out in 2018-19 and continue till 2023-24.

The project aims to help in increasing climate resilient practices in agriculture and ensuring that farming continues to remain a financially viable activity for them. It will be implemented in rural areas largely dependent upon rain fed agriculture.

It will take up series of activities at farm and watershed level. It will help to scale up climate-resilient technologies such as micro irrigation systems, expand surface water storage and facilitate aquifer recharge, directly contributing to more efficient use of scarce water resources.

It will help reduce risks of climate-related crop failure and enhance farmer’s income by adopting climate-resilient seed varieties that are drought, salt tolerant and heat resistant.

It will help to mainstream climate resilient agriculture agenda in various local institutions that deliver agricultural services to farming community.

It will also help to improve capacity of farmer producer’s organizations to operate as sustainable, market-oriented enterprises.


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AGRICULTURE

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The Best Academy for IAS & TNPSC Exams April - …...The Best Academy for IAS & TNPSC Exams Vetrii IAS Study Circle ISO 9001 : 2015 Main Office @ Anna Nagar (E), Chennai - 102. Phone: