Daily Current Capsules

7,8 and 9 August 2023

81st Anniversary of ‘Quit India Movement’

• The Vice-President and Chairman of Rajya Sabha, paid homage to our freedom fighters on the 81^st Anniversary of the historic ‘Quit India Movement’

Quit India Movement – Highlights

• The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Movement, was a significant civil disobedience movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress on 9 August 1942, at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee during World War II, demanding an end to British Rule in India
• The year 2023 marks the 81st anniversary of the Quit India movement.
• Viceroy Linlithgow compared the movement to “the most serious rebellion launched by the Indians since 1857”.
• Various violent incidents took place across the country against British rule.
• The British arrested around 10 thousand leaders, keeping them in jail until 1945.
• Ultimately, the British government realised that now, India was ungovernable in the long run
• The mass movement ended in 1945 with the release of freedom fighters from jails.
• Bhogeshwari Phukanani, Mukunda Kakati, Matangini Hazra, Kushal Konwar, Kanklata Baraua, and others were the senior leaders who attained martyrdom.

International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples

• International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples also known as World Tribal Day is observed every year on August 9 to promote and protect the rights of indigenous populations around the world.
• The day attempts to honour their distinctive cultures, languages, customs, and social contributions.
• The International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples is to be marked annually on August 9, according to a decision made by the UN General Assembly in December 1994.
• The day was picked in honour of the 1982 Geneva-based Working Group on Indigenous Populations of the UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights inaugural meeting, which served as the inspiration for the date.
• The theme of World Tribal Day in 2023 is “Indigenous Youth as Agents of Change for Self-determination.”
• The day is necessary since indigenous peoples are frequently among the most underprivileged racial and ethnic groupings in society.
• The UN estimates that although indigenous people make up less than 5% of the global population, they are responsible for 15% of the world’s poorest people.

Know! also about Janjatiya Gaurav Divas

• On November 10, 2021, the Union Cabinet declared November 15 as ‘Janjatiya Gaurav Divas’ marking the birth anniversary of the revered leader and saluting his contributions to India’s freedom movement.
• November 15 is celebrated as Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas or Tribal Pride Day to honour tribal freedom fighter, Birsa Munda.
• Born in 1875, Birsa Munda led a rebellious movement against British colonial rule and conversion activities in the areas of the Bengal Presidency, which today are part of Jharkhand.
• His rebellion in the Munda belt of Khunti, Tamar, Sarwada, and Bandgaon helped in the revival of traditional tribal culture.
• Birsa Munda gave the slogan of ‘Abua Raj Ete Jana, Maharani Raj Tundu Jana,’ which translates as “Let the queen’s kingdom end and our kingdom be established.”
• Birsa Munda died at the young age of 25 in British custody at the Ranchi jail.
• However, in his limited years, Birsa Munda’s contribution to tribal causes earned him the title of ‘Bhagwan’ or Lord.

ECOWAS

• Niger’s military government has rejected the latest diplomatic mission from African countries aimed at restoring constitutional order after a July 26 coup
• The African Union (AU) planned to send a joint mission with representatives of the UN and the West African bloc ECOWAS to Niger , but it was denied permission by the military government, which has closed Niger’s airspace

Know! about ECOWAS

• Also known as CEDEAO in French, the regional group was established in 1975 through the Lagos Treaty – with a mandate of promoting economic integration among its members.
• Today, ECOWAS has 15 members: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’ Ivoire, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Senegal and Togo. Around 400 million people live in this region.
• Although, following coups in recent years in some of the biggest countries in the bloc – namely Mali, Guinea and Burkina Faso – it suspended the three members and refused to recognise their new governments.
• ECOWAS’ larger aims are to have a single common currency and create a single, large trading bloc in areas of industry, transport, telecommunications, energy, financial issues, and social and cultural matters.
• The vision of ECOWAS is the creation of a “borderless region” that is well-integrated.
• ECOWAS is meant to be a region governed in accordance with the principles of democracy, rule of law and good governance.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme

• The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN), a Central Sector Scheme, aims at providing financial assistance to cultivable landholding farmer families across the country, subject to certain exclusion criteria.
• Under the Scheme, an amount of Rs. 6000/- is transferred annually in three equal instalments of Rs.2000/- directly into the Aadhaar Seeded bank accounts of the farmers.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Maan Dhan Yojana (PMKMY)

• It is a Central Sector Scheme launched on 12.09.2019, is a voluntary and contributory pension scheme for the entry age group of 18 to 40 years with a provision of Rs. 3000/- monthly pension on attaining the age of 60 years
• All Small and Marginal landholder farmers who own cultivable land upto 2 hectare as per land records of the concerned State/UT are eligible to be enrolled under the Scheme.
• The Scheme aims to create a social security net for the farmers as old age would result in loss of livelihood for most of them.

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS)

• With a view to provide financial support to farmers at the time of losses due to natural calamities, a yield index based Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and weather index based Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) are introduced in the country from Kharif 2016 season.
• Under this Scheme, farmers’ share in premium of maximum 2% of sum insured for Kharif season and 1.5% for Rabi season for food and oilseed crops and 5% for commercial/ horticultural crops and remaining of actuarial/ bidded premium is shared equally 50: 50 ration by the Central and State Governments except in North Eastern States& Hilly States where sharing pattern ratio is 90 : 10.

Brief details of major schemes implemented by the Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare

Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS)

• The Interest Subvention Scheme (ISS) provides concessional short term agri-loans to the farmers practicing crop husbandry and other allied activities like animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries.
• ISS is available to farmers availing short term crop loans upto Rs.3.00 lakh at an interest rate of 7% per annum for one year.
• Additional 3% subvention is also given to the farmers for prompt and timely repayment of loans thus reducing the effective rate of interest to 4% per annum.
• The benefit of ISS is also available for post-harvest loans against Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (NWRs) on crop loans for a further period of six months post-harvest to small and marginal farmers having Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs), on occurrence of natural calamities and severe natural calamities.

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF)

• Agri Infra Fund was launched under Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package.
• AIF was introduced with a vision to transform the agriculture infrastructure landscape of the country.
• The Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a medium – long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and credit guarantee support.
• Under the scheme, Rs. 1 Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans with interest subvention of 3% per annum and credit guarantee coverage under CGTMSE for loans up to Rs. 2 Crores.
• Eligible beneficiaries include Farmers, Agri-entrepreneurs, Start-ups, Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Marketing Cooperative Societies, Farmer Producers Organizations(FPOs), Self Help Group (SHG), Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public Private Partnership Projects, State Agencies, Agricultural Produce Market Committees (Mandis), National & State Federations of Cooperatives, Federations of FPOs (Farmer Produce Organizations) and Federations of Self Help Groups (SHGs).

Formation & Promotion of new 10,000 FPOs

• The Government of India has launched the Central Sector Scheme (CSS) for “Formation and Promotion of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs)” in the year 2020.

Per Drop More Crop (PDMC)

• Per Drop More Crop scheme mainly focuses on water use efficiency at farm level through precision/micro irrigation. Besides promoting precision irrigation (drip and sprinkler irrigation systems) and better on-farm water management practices to optimize the use of available water resources, this component also supports micro level water storage or water conservation/management activities to supplement micro irrigation.

Sub-Mission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE)

• The scheme aims at making the extension system farmer driven and farmer accountable by disseminating technology to farmers through new institutional arrangements viz. Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA) at district level to operationalize extension reforms in a participatory mode.

Sub-Mission on Seed and Planting Material (SMSP)

• SMSP covers the entire gamut of seed production chain, from production of nucleus seed to supply of certified seeds to the farmers, to provide support for creation of infrastructure conducive for development of the seed sector, support to the public seed producing organisations for improving their capacity and quality of seed production, create dedicated seed bank to meet unforeseen circumstances of natural calamities, et

Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY)

• PKVY aims at development of sustainable models of organic farming through a mix of traditional wisdom and modern science to ensure long term soil fertility build-up, resource conservation and helps in climate change adaptation and mitigation.
• It primarily aims to increase soil fertility and thereby helps in production of healthy food through organic practices without the use of agro-chemicals.

National Food Security Mission (NFSM)

• The Mission aims at increasing production of rice, wheat, pulses coarse cereals (maize & barley), nutri-cereals (jowar, bajra, ragi& other small millets) and commercial crops (jute, cotton & sugarcane) and oilseeds through area expansion and productivity enhancement in a sustainable manner in the identified districts of the country.

Integrated Scheme for Agriculture Marketing (ISAM)

• ISAM supports state governments in governing the agricultural produce marketing through creation and improvement of market structures, capacity building and generating access to market information. During 2017-18, National Agriculture Market Scheme popularly known as e-NAM scheme has also been made part of the same.1260 mandis of 22 States and 03 UTs have been integrated to e-NAM platform.

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)

• Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme was launched during 2014-15 for holistic growth of the horticulture sector covering fruits, vegetables, root and tuber crops, mushrooms, spices, flowers, aromatic plants, coconut, cashew, cocoa and Bamboo.

Soil Health Card (SHC)

• Soil Health Card is used to assess the current status of soil health and, when used over time, to determine changes in soil health that are affected by land management. A Soil Health Card displays soil health indicators and associated descriptive terms.
• The indicators are typically based on farmers’ practical experience and knowledge of local natural resources.
• The card lists soil health indicators that can be assessed without the aid of technical or laboratory equipment.

Rainfed Area Development (RAD)

• The Scheme aims to promote integrated farming systems by focusing on multi-cropping, crop rotation and allied activities like livestock, apiculture etc.
• Integrated farming systems helps in minimizing adverse impact of crop failure through diversified systems thereby enhancing production and productivity of rainfed area and helping in sustaining the income of small and marginal farmers even in climatic variability.

Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY)

• The scheme focuses on creation of pre & post-harvest infrastructure in agriculture and allied sectors that help in supply of quality inputs, market facilities, etc to farmers.
• It provides flexibility and autonomy to states to implement projects as per the local farmers’ needs and priorities from a bouquet of activities in agriculture and allied sectors.
• The scheme aims to fill the resources gap of agriculture and allied sectors by providing financial support to states for undertaking various activities to increase in overall growth of agriculture and allied sectors and farmers’ income.

National Mission on Edible Oils (NMEO)-Oil Palm

• NMEO-OP has been launched during the year 2021-22 with the aim to enhance the edible oils availability in the country by harnessing Oil Palm area expansion, increasing CPO production and to reduce the import burden on edible oil.
• The Mission will bring additional area of 6.5 lakh ha under Oil Palm plantation. Allocation for the scheme during 2022-23 is Rs 900 crore.

Market Intervention Scheme and Price support Scheme (MIS-PSS)

• Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare implements the Price Support Scheme (PSS) for procurement of pulses, oilseeds and copra. Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) for procurement of agricultural and horticultural commodities which are perishable in nature and are not covered under the Price Support Scheme (PSS).
• The objective of intervention is to protect the growers of these commodities from making distress sale in the event of a bumper crop during the peak arrival period when the prices tend to fall below economic levels and cost of production.

National Bamboo Mission (NBM)

• To increase the area under bamboo plantation in non-forest Government and private lands to supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change as well as availability of quality raw material requirement of industries.

National beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM)

• A National Beekeeping and Honey Mission (NBHM) has been launched in 2020 as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. Rs. 500 crore for the period 2020-2021 to 2022-2023 has been allocated for beekeeping sector.

Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region

• The MOVCDNER scheme aims at development of commodity specific, concentrated, certified organic production clusters in value chain mode to link growers with consumers and to support the development of entire value chain starting from inputs, seeds, certification, to the creation of facilities for collection, aggregation, processing, marketing and brand building initiative in Northeast Region

OS Maya

• The Defence Ministry is going to switch to Operating System Maya in all their computers in place of the Microsoft OS to prevent cyber and malware attacks.
• OS Maya was built locally based on open-source Ubuntu.
• Maya has the interface and all functionality like Windows and users will not feel much difference as they transition to it.
• To begin with, the direction is to install Maya on all computers connected to the Internet in South Block before August 15.
• A Chakravyuh will also be installed in the systems to avail an ‘end point detection and protection system’.
• The OS Maya is being installed on the computers of the Defence Ministry only and not on the rest of the Services.
• Indian Navy has decided to install Maya OS in their systems while the Army and the Air Force are evaluating it.

Know! about Operating System

• It is a software program that acts as an intermediary between computer hardware and the computer user.
• It provides a user-friendly interface and manages the hardware and software resources of a computer system.\In essence, an operating system enables a user to interact with a computer and run applications efficiently.
• An OS, after being initially loaded into the computer by a boot program, manages all of the other application programs in a computer.

National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)

• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers,fixes retail rates of 44 formulations
• The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed the prices under the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 2013

Know! about National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)

• It is a government regulatory agency established with the aim of controlling and regulating the prices of pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices in the country to ensure their availability at affordable rates.
• It was constituted vide Government of India Resolution dated 29th August 1997 as an attached office of the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP),Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilizers.

Functions of NPPA

• To implement and enforce the provisions of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order in accordance with the powers delegated to it.
• To deal with all legal matters arising out of the decisions of the Authority.
• To monitor the availability of drugs, identify shortages, if any, and to take remedial steps.
• To collect/ maintain data on production, exports and imports, market share of individual companies, profitability of companies etc, for bulk drugs and formulations.
• To undertake and/ or sponsor relevant studies in respect of pricing of drugs/ pharmaceuticals.
• To recruit/ appoint the officers and other staff members of the Authority, as per rules and procedures laid down by the Government.
• To render advice to the Central Government on changes/ revisions in the drug policy.
• To render assistance to the Central Government in the parliamentary matters relating to drug pricing.

Bulk Drugs

• An Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), often known as a bulk drug, is the vital component of a medicine that gives it the desired therapeutic effect . .For example, paracetamol is a bulk drug, which acts against pain.

Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA)

• The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has successfully orchestrated the export of the maiden trial shipment of fresh pomegranates to the United States via the air route.

About Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA):

• The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) was established by the Government of India under the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority Act passed by the Parliament in December, 1985.
• It works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Its objective is to develop and promote the export of scheduled products.
• The products specified under the APEDA ACT are called scheduled products, and exporters of such scheduled products are required to register under APEDA.
• It provides financial assistance, information, and guidelines for the development of scheduled products.