Solution (b)

Report “Future for All – A need for Human-Wildlife Coexistence” is recently released by World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

According to the report:

• Marine and terrestrial protected areas only cover 9.67% globally. 
• About 40% of the African lion range and 70% of the African and Asian elephant ranges fall outside protected areas.
• In India, 35% tiger ranges currently lie outside protected areas.
• Human Wildlife Conflict related killing affects more than 75% of the world’s wild cat species, as well as many other terrestrial and marine carnivore species such as polar bears and Mediterranean monk seals, and large herbivores such as elephants.
• In India over 500 elephants were killed between 2014-2015 and 2018-2019, mostly due to human-elephant conflict. During the same period, 2,361 people were killed as a result of conflict with elephants.
• WWF India had developed the ‘Sonitpur Model’ during 2003-2004 by which community members were connected with the state forest department. They were given training on how to work with them to drive elephants away from crop fields safely.
• WWF India had also developed a low-cost, single strand, non-lethal electric fence to ease the guarding of crops from elephants.

Article Link: Human-wildlife conflict among greatest threats to animal species: WWF and UNEP report

Solution (d)

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund:

• It is a Central Sector Scheme.
• It intends to provide 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 financial support.
• The duration of the Scheme is from FY2020 to FY2032 (10 years).

Intended beneficiaries:

Under the scheme, Rs. One Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans to Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Marketing Cooperative Societies, Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), Self Help Group (SHG), Farmers, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Agri-entrepreneurs, Startups, Aggregation Infrastructure Providers and Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public Private Partnership Project.

Eligibility has been extended to State agencies and Agricultural Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs), as well as federations of cooperative organisations, FPOs and SHGs.

Benefits:

• All loans under this financing facility will have interest subvention of 3% per annum up to a limit of Rs. 2 crore. This subvention will be available for a maximum period of seven years.
• Further, credit guarantee coverage will be available for eligible borrowers from this financing facility under Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme for a loan up to Rs. 2 crore. The fee for this coverage will be paid by the Government.
• In case of FPOs the credit guarantee may be availed from the facility created under FPO promotion scheme of Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare (DACFW).
• Moratorium for repayment under this financing facility may vary subject to minimum of 6 months and maximum of 2 years.

Article Link: Cabinet approves modifications in Central Sector Scheme of financing facility under ‘Agriculture Infrastructure Fund’

Solution (a)

The India industrial land bank (IILB) is a GIS-based portal with all industrial infrastructure-related information such as connectivity, infra, natural resources and terrain, plot-level information on vacant plots, line of activity, and contact details.

It was launched by the Ministry for Commerce and Industry in 2020.

Currently, the IILB has approximately 4000 industrial parks mapped across an area of 5.5 lakh hectares of land, serving as a decision support system for investors scouting for land remotely.

Article Link: Industrial land bank to have pan-India info by year end: Govt

Solution (c)

Bhumi Pandunga is a festival marking the beginning of farm operations every year. It is celebrated by the Koya tribes in Andhra Pradesh.

For men hunting is mandatory as part of the festival.

Article Link: Koyas celebrate last ‘Bhumi Panduga’ in their ancestral villages

Solution (c)

dbGENVOC is world’s first  browsable  online database of GENomic Variants of Oral Cancer.

It is developed by DBT-National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG), Kalyani an Autonomous Institute funded by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.

Oral cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer among men in India, largely fuelled by tobacco-chewing. Tobacco-chewing causes changes in the genetic material of cells in the oral cavity. These changes (mutations) precipitate oral cancer. Researches to identify those genetic mutations that drive oral cancer are ongoing. Such driver mutations may be variable across populations

Article Link: DBT-NIBMG creates world’s first database of genomic variants of oral cancer