IASbaba PIB Weekly: Press Information Bureau – 31st July to 5th Aug , 2017

ARCHIVES

GS-1

Centenary Anniversary of Champaran Satyagraha of 1917

(Topic: The Freedom Struggle – its various stages and important contributors /contributions from different parts of the country)

The first intersection of peasant unrest and the national movement; and the first political action that Gandhi led in India, for a deeply oppressed peasantry in a remote part of the country

• By the time Gandhi arrived, the indigo farmers were in the grip of the pernicious tinkathia system whereby they were forced to dedicate three out of 20 parts of their land to the cultivation of indigo.
• Not only did the peasants get poor remuneration, they were also subject to almost 40 different kinds of bizarre, illegal cesses called abwabs.

Result of Gandhi’s intervention:

• Government appointed a committee and included Gandhi as one of the member.
• Abolished tinkhatia system and paid compensation to the farmers

Note:

• Neel Darpan – Bandhu Mitra (coercion exercised by European planters on peasants to raise indigo and sell it cheaply to them)
• Poverty and Un-British Rule in India – By Dadabhoy Naoroji
• Two-volume Economic History of India under British Rule – By R.C. Dutt
• Hind Swaraj – Mahatma Gandhi (originally written in Gujarati)

Must Read: Celebrating the Champaran Satyagraha, a Hundred Years On

Solve: Question

GS-2

Trade Related Entrepreneurship Development Assistance Scheme (TREAD) women entrepreneurship programme

(Topic: Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections)

Focus of the scheme: To promote self-employment and income generation activities for women mostly from SHG groups in non-farm sector.

Non-farming activities taken up by women: Tailoring, Handicrafts, Embroidery, Toy making, Readymade garments, Candle making, Agarbatti making, paper cup and plate making, Masala powder making, Saree weaving, Coir mat making, Pickles making, Readymade garments, basketry and brooms making, Jute bag making etc.

Also Read: Missing women in India’s labour force

MAA-Mother’s Absolute Affection

(Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources)

Aim: To bring undiluted focus on promotion of breastfeeding and provision of services towards supporting breastfeeding

• Awareness generation
• Promotion of breastfeeding & inter personal counselling at community level
• Skilled support for breastfeeding at delivery points
• Monitoring and Award/ recognition of health facility.

Under this programme –

• ASHA has been incentivized for reaching out to pregnant and lactating mothers and provide information on benefits and techniques of successful breastfeeding during interpersonal communication.
• ANMs at all sub-centres and health personnel at all delivery points are being trained for providing skilled support to mothers referred with issues related to breastfeeding.

Importance of Breastfeeding

• An important efficient and cost-effective intervention promoting child survival and health.
• Breastfeeding within an hour of birth could prevent 20% of the newborn deaths. Infants who are not breastfed are 15 times more likely to die from pneumonia and 11 times more likely to die from diarrhea than children who are exclusively breastfed, which are two leading causes of death in children under-five years of age.
• In addition, children who were not breastfed are at increased risk for diabetes, obesity, allergies, asthma, childhood leukemia, sudden infant death syndrome etc.
• Apart from mortality and morbidity benefits, breastfeeding also has tremendous impact on improved IQ.

National Early Childhood Care & Education (ECCE) Policy

(Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources)

Objectives:

• Facilitate comprehensive childcare supports, infrastructure and services aimed at holistic well-being of children and responsive to their developmental needs along the continuum of care from conception to age of six years.
• Universalise and reinforce ECCE and ensure adaptive strategies for inclusion of all children with specific attention to vulnerable children.
• Engage capable human resources and build their capacity to enhance and develop quality services for children and their families.
• Set out the quality standards and curriculum framework for ECCE provisions and ensure their application and practice through advocacy and enforcement through appropriate institutional arrangements.
• Raise awareness and create common understanding about the significance of ECCE and promote strong partnerships with communities and families in order to improve the quality of life of young children through institutional and programmatic means and appropriate use of technology as required.
• Recognise diversity of contexts, develop and promote culturally appropriate strategies and materials and work within the framework of decentralized governance using participating and locally responsive approaches.

Enactment of Unorganized Workers Social Security Act, 2008

(Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources)

Purpose: To provide for the welfare of unorganized workers including those in the domestic and small business establishments on matters relating to life and disability cover, health and maternity benefit; old age protection and any other benefit as may be determined.

The National Platform for domestic workers has requested for formulation of a central law for protecting the interests of domestic workers –

• Wages for domestic workers as per the Minimum Wages Act
• The right to work and live with dignity
• The right to decent work with fixed working hours and defined periods of rest/leave and overtimes
• The right to organize and form unions/associations for collective bargaining
• Setting up a mechanism for redressal of grievance of workers and right to avail judicial remedy
• Inclusion of domestic workers in all existing labour laws

Must read:

Domestic workers need a law to safeguard their rights

Minimum Wage and labour issues

ZED Scheme for MSMEs

(Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation)

Purpose: Promotion of Zero Defect and Zero Effect (ZED) manufacturing amongst micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and ZED Assessment for their certification so as to:

• Develop an Ecosystem for Zero Defects Manufacturing in MSMEs
• Promote adaptation of Quality tools/systems and Energy Efficient manufacturing
• Enable MSMEs for manufacturing of quality products
• Encourage MSMEs to constantly upgrade their quality standards in products and processes
• Drive manufacturing with adoption of Zero Defect production processes and without impacting the environment
• Support ‘Make in India’ campaign
• Develop professionals in the area of ZED manufacturing and certification

Also Read: Link

Intensified Mission Indradhanush

(Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources)

Aim: To accelerate the full immunization coverage and provide greater focus on urban areas and other pockets of low immunization coverage

Targets: Full immunization coverage by 2018

Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) of India: Prevents mortality and morbidity in children and pregnant women against 12 vaccine preventable diseases

• Greater focus is being given on convergence with other ministries/departments especially women and child development, Panchayati raj, urban development, youth affairs, NCC etc.
• Convergence of ground level workers of various departments like ASHA, ANMs, Anganwadi workers, Zila preraks under NULM, self-help groups will be crucial for successful implementation of Intensified Mission Indradhanush.

Facilities to Farmers

(Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation)

Support to State Extension Programmes for Extension Reforms – ATMA Scheme

• Setting up of autonomous institutions at the State/District/Block level
• Encouraging multi-agency and broad-based extension strategies adopting group approach to extension
• Facilitating convergence of programmes in planning, executing and implementation

Kisan Suvidha Mobile App: Provides information to the farmers on Weather report, Plant Protection, Input Dealers, Agro-Advisory and Marketing

Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs): On-farm trials, front-line demonstrations, creation of awareness on improved agricultural technologies, etc.

Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI): To address the constraints limiting the productivity of “rice based cropping systems”  in eastern India comprising seven (7) States namely; Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Eastern Uttar Pradesh (Purvanchal) and West Bengal – now a sub-scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana

Crop Diversification Programme (CDP): A sub scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY), is being implemented in the Original Green Revolution States of Punjab, Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh from 2013-14 to diversify area from water guzzling crop like paddy to alternate crops like maize, pulses, oilseeds, cotton & agro-forestry plantation

National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP): Transfer of Technology (ToT) component, assistance is provided to States for conducting Farmers Training and Trainers Training Programme, in which training is provided to the farmers and extension workers educating the farmers to avail the benefits of the programme.

Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) – ‘Per Drop More Crop’; mainly focuses on water use efficiency at farm level through precision/micro irrigation (Drip and Sprinkler Irrigation).

Integrated Pest Management (IPM): To keep pest population below economic thresholds level by employing available alternate pest control strategies and techniques viz. preventive measures, cultural, mechanical and biological control with greater emphasis on usage of bio-pesticides and pesticides of plant-origin like Neem formulation, etc.

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH) envisages production and productivity improvement of horticulture crops like fruits (including apple) and vegetables through various interventions.  Capacity building of farmers and technicians are also provided for adopting improved technologies.  Scheme also envisages creation of infrastructure for Post-Harvest Management (PHM) and marketing for better price realization of produce.

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM): facilitate farmers to on-line trade their agricultural produce in any market integrated to the portal and to the buyer registered

Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) provides a comprehensive insurance cover against failure of insured crops due to non-preventable natural risks, thus providing financial support to farmers suffering crop loss/ damage arising out of unforeseen events; stabilizing the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming; and encouraging them to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.

Trends in Maternal Mortality: 1990 to 2015

(Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources)

India: Accounts for 15% of the total global maternal deaths

Urgent Need: Government needs to take steps to address the issue of poor health, anaemia and deficient medical facilities –

• Operationalization of Sub-Centers, Primary Health Centers, Community Health Centers and District Hospitals for providing 24×7 basic and comprehensive obstetric care.
• Mother and Child Health wings (MCH wings): To overcome the shortage of maternity beds so that quality care can be given to pregnant women and neonates
• Operationalization of Safe Abortion Services and Reproductive Tract Infections and Sexually Transmitted Infections (RTI/STI) at health facilities with a focus on “Delivery Points”.
• Capacity building of health care providers in basic and comprehensive obstetric care with a strategic initiative “Dakshata” to enable service providers in providing high quality services during childbirth at the institutions.
• Augmenting the availability of skilled manpower at health facilities for providing basic comprehensive & emergency obstetric care, different skill-based trainings such as Skilled Birth Attendance for Auxiliary Nurse Midwives/Staff Nurses/Lady Health Visitors; training of MBBS Doctors in Life Saving Anaesthetic Skills, Emergency Obstetric Care including Caesarean Section.
• Universal screening of pregnant women for anaemia: A part of ante-natal care and all pregnant women are to be provided iron and folic acid tablets during their ante-natal and post-natal visits.

Must Read:

Time to sustain renewed focus on Maternal and Child care

Janani Suraksha Yojana

Test and Treat Policy for HIV patients

(Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources)

What: all people living with HIV (PLHIV) are to be treated with Antiretro Viral Therapy regardless of CD4 count, clinical stage, age or population.

Objectives:

• Accelerating HIV prevention in key population and ‘at risk group’
• Expanding quality assured HIV testing with universal access to comprehensive HIV care
• Elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV and syphilis
• Addressing the critical enablers in HIV programming
• Restructuring the strategic information system to be efficient and patient-centric.

Must Read:

HIV Bill

India’s Increased Policy Commitment towards HIV/AIDS

Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in India

(Topic: Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources)

IMR has reduced by 58% in India during the period of 1990-2015 which is more than the global decline of 49% during the same period.

Steps being taken by the government to further combat infant mortality and increase vaccine coverage under the National Health Mission:

• Promotion of Institutional deliveries through cash incentive under Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) and Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) which entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free ante-natal check-ups, delivery including Caesarean section, post-natal care and treatment of sick infants till one year of age.
• Strengthening of delivery points for providing comprehensive and quality Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health (RMNCH+A) Services, ensuring essential newborn care at all delivery points, establishment of Special Newborn Care Units (SNCU),
• Newborn Stabilization Units (NBSU) and Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) units for care of sick and small babies
• Home Based Newborn Care (HBNC) is being provided by ASHAs to improve child rearing practices
• India Newborn Action Plan (INAP) was launched in 2014 to make concerted efforts towards attainment of the goals of “Single Digit Neonatal Mortality Rate” and “Single Digit Stillbirth Rate”, by 2030.
• Early initiation and exclusive breastfeeding for first six months and appropriate Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices are promoted in convergence with Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• Village Health and Nutrition Days (VHNDs) are observed for provision of maternal and child health services and creating awareness on maternal and child care including health and nutrition education.
• MAA-Mothers’ Absolute Affection programme was launched for improving breastfeeding practices (Initial Breastfeeding within one hour, Exclusive Breastfeeding up to six months and complementary Breastfeeding up to two years) through mass media and capacity building of health care providers in health facilities as well as in communities.
• Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) is being supported to provide vaccination to children against many life threatening diseases such as Tuberculosis, Diphtheria, Pertussis, Polio, Tetanus, Hepatitis B and Measles.
• Pentavalent vaccine has been introduced all across the country and “Mission Indradhanush” has been launched to fully immunize children who are either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated; those that have not been covered during the rounds of routine immunization for various reasons.
• Measles Rubella Campaign is being undertaken in select States for children from 9 months to 15 years of age with the aim of eliminating Measles by 2020.
• Name based tracking of mothers and children till two years of age (Mother and Child Tracking System) is done to ensure complete antenatal, intranatal, postnatal care and complete immunization as per schedule.
• Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) for health screening, early detection of birth defects, diseases, deficiencies, development delays including disability and early intervention services has been Operationalized to provide comprehensive care to all the children in the age group of 0-18 years in the community.
• Iron and folic acid (IFA) supplementation for the prevention of anaemia among the vulnerable age groups, home visits by ASHAs to promote exclusive breast feeding and promote use of ORS and Zinc for management of diarrhoea in children.
• Capacity building of health care providers: Various trainings are being conducted under National Health Mission (NHM) to build and upgrade the skills of health care providers in basic and comprehensive obstetric care of mother during pregnancy, delivery and essential newborn care.
• Low performing districts have been identified as High Priority Districts (HPDs) which entitles them to receive high per capita funding, relaxed norms, enhanced monitoring and focused supportive supervisions and encouragement to adopt innovative approaches to address their peculiar health challenges.

Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between India and Bhutan

(Topic: India and its neighborhood- relations)

The bilateral trade relations between India and Bhutan are governed by the Agreement on Trade, Commerce and Transit between the Government of India and Bhutan.

The Agreement provides for

• A free trade regime between the territories of India and Bhutan
• Duty free transit of Bhutanese merchandise for trade with third countries

Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)

(Topic: Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests)

RCEP— Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is an ASEAN-centred proposal for a regional free trade area.

Between:

• 10 ASEAN states: (Brunei, Burma (Myanmar), Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam) CLIMBB-PSTV +
• Six states with which ASEAN has existing FTAs (Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand) JACSIN

Launched in: November 2012 at the ASEAN Summit in Cambodia

Viewed as: Alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement

Stats: The 16 RCEP participating countries account for almost half of the world’s population, almost 30 per cent of global GDP and over a quarter of world exports.

Why RCEP?

Purpose: ASEAN+6 RECP—aimed at transforming the region by higher economic growth through more cross-border trade and investment.

Objective: To achieve a modern, comprehensive, high-quality and mutually beneficial economic partnership agreement that will cover trade in goods, trade in services, investment, economic and technical co-operation, intellectual property, competition, dispute settlement and other issues.

• Open up trade in goods and services
• Liberalize and encourage cross border investment
• Integrate markets and provide improved access to markets
• Promote regional economic and technical cooperation
• Global economic growth and development
• Counter to the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)

Mindmap: http://iasbaba.com/2016/06/iasbabas-daily-current-affairs-6th-june-2016/rcep-iasbaba/

Challenges

• Lack of reciprocity from China: All nations are concerned about agreeing to give greater market access to Chinese goods without gaining similarly in return.
• Complete tariff elimination: Elimination of tariffs altogether will majorly help China.
• Dumping by China: Fears of China dumping its excess capacity in items such as steel and other highly subsidised items. This move could also harm the local industry in the importing countries and lead to trade distortion.
• Goods and service imbalance: The progress in talks to liberalise services trade is much slower than talks on liberalising goods trade.
• India’s interest in service sector: Greater market access in services is of interest to India as it is a leading services supplier. ASEAN countries led by Singapore have opposed India’s push for greater thrust on services whether relating to cross border trade, consumption abroad, commercial presence of a service supplier and temporary movement of skilled workers overseas for work.
• Automatic investment approval: Negotiating members have expressed concerns over New Zealand’s refusal to provide automatic approval in the future for investments up to NZD 100 million, which is the current ceiling there for clearance without government approval.

GS-3

Steps undertaken by the Government for development of cattle population in the country

(Topic: Economics of animal-rearing)

Rashtriya Gokul Mission: Development and conservation of indigenous bovine breeds to enhance milk production and productivity through –

• Induction of high genetic merit bulls for semen production
• Field performance recording
• Strengthening of bulls mother farms
• Setting up of Gokul Grams etc.

National Programme for Bovine Breeding: To enhance productivity of milch animals through extension of Artificial Insemination (AI) coverage.

National Mission on Bovine Productivity: To enhance milk production and productivity and thereby making dairying more remunerative to the farmers

National Kamdhenu Breeding Centres are being established – One in the State of Andhra Pradesh for southern region and other in Madhya Pradesh for northern region of the country with the aim of development and conservation of indigenous breeds in a scientific manner and thereby enhancing milk production and productivity.

National Dairy Plan-I: A World Bank assisted project being implemented in 18 major dairy States with aim of enhancing milk production and productivity in order to meet demand of milk in the country through –

• Strengthening of semen stations
• Bull production programme (progeny testing and pedigree selection)
• Ration balancing programme, etc.

Sustainable and Inclusive Development of Natural Rubber Sector

(Topic: Major crops and cropping patterns in various parts of the country)

Current status:

• Consumption of Natural Rubber (NR) has increased from 994,415 tonne in 2015-16 to 1044,075 tonne in 2016-17 mainly due to rise in the demand of auto tyre sector.
• India is the third largest natural rubber producing country of the world, next to Thailand and Indonesia, producing about 9 per cent of the global output.
• India – Kerala > Tamil Nadu
• Consumption of rubber is almost always higher than the production and the production- consumption gap is likely to widen as the rate of consumption is faster than that of production.

Scheme: In order to increase production of Natural Rubber in the country, support is provided for –

• Plantation development and extension
• Strengthening research
• Technology upgradation and market development
• Human resource development

Conditions of Growth:

• Requires hot and humid climate with temperature of 25°-35°C and annual rainfall of over 200 cm.
• The rainfall should be well distributed throughout the year.
• Daily rainfall followed by strong sun

Ocean Observation Systems

(Topic: Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology)

The ocean observation system has been designed to

• Acquire real-time, time series data on surface meteorological and upper oceanographic parameters from the seas around India including from the Indian Ocean Region
• To cater research and a wide range of operational services including issue of issue of early warning to tsunami and storm surges, as well as useful for ocean-atmospheric modelling purposes and validation of satellite data

The ocean observing systems are primarily deployed, operated and maintained by four organizations –

• National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai
• National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa
• Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad
• Survey of India, Dehradun

National Biopharma Mission

(Topic: Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights)

An Industry-Academia mission to accelerate biopharmaceutical development in India

Objectives:

• Development of products from leads that are at advanced stages in the product development lifecycle and relevant to the public health.
• Strengthening and establishing shared infrastructure facilities for both product discovery validation and manufacturing.
• Developing human capital by providing specific training to address the critical skills gaps in researchers, nascent biotech companies across the product development value chain, including in business plan development and market penetration.
• Creating and enhancing technology transfer and intellectual property management capacities and capabilities in public and private sector.

Export Oriented Production, Export Development & Promotion of Spices Scheme

(Topic: Transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints)

Assistance is provided to spices farmers –

• Development of infrastructure for common processing facilities in Spice Parks
• Adaptation of upgraded technology in spice processing
• Setting up of quality evaluation labs for sampling and testing of the export consignments for meeting quality specifications of consuming countries
• Assistance to farmers on post-harvest quality improvement
• Imparting training to farmers in Good Agricultural Practices etc.

Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH)

(Topic: Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management)

• Focus is on the development of horticulture including post-harvest management
• Assistance is provided for development of all relevant infrastructure including pack house, pre-cooling units, staging cold room, cold storages, controlled atmosphere (CA) storage, reefer vans, primary/mobile processing units and setting up of ripening chambers etc. to promote logistic integration with the aim to reduce losses across total supply chain and enable farmers to access markets to get remunerative prices for their produce.

Must Read: A silent horticulture ‘revolution’

Please Note:

1. The Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme provides for setting up of residential upper primary schools for girls from Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class and Minority communities.

2. SWAYAM, an indigenous MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) Platform is for providing best quality education to anyone, anytime and anywhere using the IT System

3. SWAYAM Prabha, the 32 Direct-to-Home Channels for transmitting high quality educational content on 24X7 basis direct to every home, without any charge

4. The National Academic Depository (NAD), a digital depository which authenticates all the certificates issued by Institutions as per the need of the users.

5. Public Health and hospitals are State subject.

6. Mahila Coir Yojana(MCY) – Exclusively for empowering women (100% women oriented programme) in the country by giving training and distribution of coir processing equipment; intended to provide self-employment to the rural women artisans in coir producing regions.

7. Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) is a credit-linked subsidy programme aimed at generating self-employment opportunities through establishment of micro-enterprises in the non-farm sector by helping traditional artisans and unemployed youth.

8. The only GM crop permitted for cultivation in the country by the Central Government is Bt cotton.

9. FAME -India [Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India]: To support the hybrid / electric   vehicles market   development and its manufacturing eco-system to achieve self-sustenance

10. Automotive Mission Plan 2026 is aimed at bringing the Indian Automotive Industry among the top three of the world in engineering, manufacture and exports of vehicles & components; growing in value to over 12% of India GDP during the next decade.

11. Mission XI Million is a joint programme, of this Ministry, All India Football Federation (AIFF) and Federation International de Football Association (FIFA) to popularise football across the country.

12. As per the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Policy of the Government, FDI is not permitted in nuclear power sector. Thus, foreign companies cannot invest in nuclear power. Foreign companies can however, invest in the supply chain for nuclear power projects.

13. The Handloom Marketing Assistance component of the National Handloom Development Programme has been facilitating the handloom weavers to sell their products directly to the customers by eliminating the middlemen, by way of participation in domestic and overseas marketing events funded under this component.

14. Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2017: Provides for progressive agricultural marketing reforms, including setting up markets in private sector, direct marketing, farmer-consumer markets, de-regulation of fruits and vegetables, e-trading, single point levy of market fee, issue of unified single trading license in the State, declaring warehouses/silos/cold storage as market sub-yards and Market Yards of National Importance (MNI) so that more markets are available for farmers to sell their produce for better prices.

15. Preservation and hygienization of food and agri-products by radiation – Advantages include

• Significant increase in shelf life for many products including fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses, spices, sea foods and meat products.
• Effective elimination of harmful bacteria, viruses and insects/pests.
• Cold & clean process (No temperature raise or residue); and treatment done after final packaging (no repacking necessary)

16. Swadesh Darshan – Integrated Development of Theme-Based Tourist Circuits

• Focus: Development of theme based tourist circuits in the country in a planned and prioritized manner on the principles of high tourist value, competitiveness, sustainability, enriching tourist experience and to enhance employment opportunities
• Thirteen thematic circuits have been identified for development:
• North-East India Circuit
• Buddhist Circuit
• Himalayan Circuit
• Coastal Circuit
• Krishna Circuit
• Desert Circuit
• Tribal Circuit
• Eco Circuit
• Wildlife Circuit
• Rural Circuit
• Spiritual Circuit
• Ramayana Circuit
• Heritage Circuit

17. PRASAD- Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual Augmentation Drive

A total number of sites identified at present are 25 viz.,

• Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh)
• Amritsar (Punjab)
• Ajmer (Rajasthan)
• Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh)
• Badrinath (Uttarakhand)
• Belur (West Bengal)
• Dwarka (Gujarat)
• Deoghar (Jharkhand)
• Gaya (Bihar)
• Guruvayoor (Kerala)
• Hazratbal (Jammu & Kashmir)
• Kamakhya (Assam)
• Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu)
• Katra (Jammu & Kashmir)
• Kedarnath (Uttarakhand)
• Mathura (Uttar Pradesh)
• Omkareshwar (Madhya Pradesh)
• Patna (Bihar)
• Puri (Odisha)
• Somnath (Gujarat)
• Srisailam (Andhra Pradesh)
• Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh)
• Trimbakeshwar (Maharashtra)
• Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh)
• Vellankani (Tamil Nadu)