Press Information Bureau (PIB) IAS UPSC – 27th to 31st December, 2020

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Year End Review 2020: Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs

Year End Review 2020- Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions

Proposed to set up a Capacity Building Commission, with a view to ensure a uniform approach in managing and regulating the capacity building ecosystem on collaborative and co-sharing basis – 

iGOT-Karmayogi platform brings the scale and state-of-the-art infrastructure to augment the capacities of over two crore officials in India. The platform is expected to evolve into a vibrant and world-class market place for content where carefully curated and vetted digital e-learning material will be made available. Besides capacity building, service matters like confirmation after probation period, deployment, work assignment and notification of vacancies etc. would eventually be integrated with the proposed competency framework.

Mission Karmayogi aims to prepare the Indian Civil Servant for the future by making him more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled. Empowered with specific role-competencies, the civil servant will be able to ensure efficient service delivery of the highest quality standards.

Department Of Justice: Year End Review-2020

Year End Review -2020 of Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

Year End Review- 2020: Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises

Year 2020 marked by several path breaking initiatives in MSME Sector

Year End Review 2020 – Ministry of Textiles

Year End Review 2020 – Ministry of Minority Affairs

Year End Review 2020: Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER)

Cabinet Approves Export of Akash Missile System and Creates a Committee for faster Approval of Exports

Under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat, India is growing in its capabilities of manufacturing wide variety of Defence platforms and missiles. 

So far, Indian defence exports included parts/components etc. The export of big platforms was minimal. This initiative of the Cabinet would help the country to improve its defence products and make them globally competitive. 

The export version of Akash will be different from System currently deployed with Indian Armed Forces. Besides Akash, there is interest coming in other major platforms like Coastal Surveillance System, Radars and Air platforms. To provide faster approvals for export of such platforms, a Committee comprising of Raksha Mantri, External Affairs Minister and National Security Advisor has been created. 

Cabinet approves MoU between India and Bhutan on Cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.

This MoU shall 

Major Impacts: The signed MoU will provide Impetus to explore cooperation possibilities in the field of remote sensing of the earth; satellite communication; satellite navigation; space science and exploration of outer space.

Background:

Cabinet approves Opening of 3 Indian Missions in Estonia, Paraguay and Dominican Republic

The objective of our foreign policy is to build a conducive environment for India’s growth and development through partnerships with friendly countries.  There are presently Missions and Posts across the world which serve as conduits of our relations with partner countries. 

The decision to open these 3 new Indian Missions is a forward-looking step in pursuit of our national priority of growth and development or ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’.  It will help expand India’s diplomatic footprint, deepen political relations, enable growth of bilateral trade, investment and economic engagements, facilitate stronger people-to-people contacts, bolster political outreach in multilateral fora and help garner support for India’s foreign policy objectives.

Enhancement of India’s diplomatic presence will, inter-alia, provide market access for Indian companies and bolster Indian exports of goods and services.  This would have a direct impact in augmenting domestic production and employment in line with our goal of a self-reliant India or ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.

Cabinet approves modified scheme to enhance ethanol distillation capacity in the country

There has been surplus production of sugar in the country since sugar season 2010-11 (except reduction due to drought in sugar season 2016-17); & sugar production is likely to remain surplus in the country in coming years due to introduction of improved varieties of sugarcane. In the normal sugar season (October- September) about 320 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) of sugar is produced whereas, our domestic consumption is about 260 LMT. This surplus sugar of 60 LMT in normal sugar season put pressure on domestic ex-mill prices of sugar. The excess stocks of 60 LMT which remain unsold also block funds of sugar mills to the tune of about Rs. 19,000 crore thereby affecting liquidity positions of sugar mills resulting in accumulation of cane price arrears of farmers. To deal with surplus stocks of sugar, sugar mills have been exporting sugar, for which Government has been extending financial assistance. Moreover, India being a developing country can export sugar by extending financial assistance only up to year 2023 as per WTO arrangements.

So, diversion of excess sugarcane & sugar to ethanol is a correct way forward to deal with surplus stocks. Diversion of excess sugar would help in 

Government has fixed target of 10% blending of fuel grade ethanol with petrol by 2022, 15% blending by 2026 & 20% blending by 2030. With a view to support sugar sector and in the interest of sugarcane farmers, the Government has also allowed production of ethanol from B-Heavy Molasses, sugarcane juice, sugar syrup and sugar; and has been fixing the remunerative ex-mill price of ethanol derived from C-heavy molasses, B-heavy molasses and ethanol derived from sugarcane juice/ sugar/ sugar syrup for ethanol season. For ethanol supply year 2020-21, Government has now increased the ex-mill price of ethanol derived from various feed stocks. 

To increase production of fuel grade ethanol, Govt. is also encouraging distilleries to produce ethanol from maize; & rice available with FCI. Government has fixed remunerative price of ethanol from maize & rice. Government is also planning to prepone achievement of 20% blending target by year 2025 and onwards.

To bring a modified scheme for extending interest subvention to augment ethanol production capacity for following categories:

  1. Setting up grain based distilleries / expansion of existing grain based distilleries to produce ethanol. However, benefits of interest subvention scheme to be extended to only those stand alone distilleries which are using dry milling process.
  2. Setting up new molasses based distilleries / expansion of existing distilleries (whether attached to sugar mills or standalone distilleries) to produce ethanol and for installing any method approved by Central Pollution Control Board for achieving Zero Liquid Discharge (ZLD).
  3. To set up new dual feed distilleries or to expand existing capacities of dual feed distilleries.
  4. To convert existing molasses based distilleries (whether attached to sugar mills or standalone distilleries) to dual feed (molasses and grain/ or any other feed stock producing 1G Ethanol); and also to convert grain based distilleries to dual feed.
  5. To set up new distilleries / expansion of existing distilleries to produce ethanol from other feed stocks producing 1G ethanol such as sugar beet, sweet sorghum, cereals etc.
  6. To install Molecular Sieve Dehydration (MSDH) column to convert rectified spirit to ethanol in the existing distilleries.

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Year End Review- 2020 for Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade

Doing Business Report, 2020: To improve Ease of Doing Business in the country, the emphasis has been on simplification and rationalization of the existing rules and introduction of information technology to make governance more efficient and effective. As per the Doing Business Report (DBR) ,2020 of the  World Bank’s released  on 24th October, 2019, India’s rank has moved upwards at  63rd position amongst 190 countries from its rank at  77nd  position  in  2019. India has improved its rank in 7 out of 10 indicators and has moved closer to international best practices.

State Reform Action Plan: Since 2014 to track the implementation of business reforms at the State level, DPIIT in partnership with the World Bank, has been annually ranking all States and UTs based on the assessments of reforms in the specified areas of ease of doing business. The Action Plan is spread across 24 reform areas and seeks to promote sector-specific approach so as to create an enabling business environment across various sectors in the country. The various sectors include Trade License, Healthcare, Legal Metrology, Fire License/NOC, Cinema Halls, Hospitality, Telecom, Movie Shooting and Tourism.

District Reform Action Plan: District level functionaries are key touch points for an entrepreneur and hence a district level reform exercise is the next logical step in the reform agenda. The Action Plan covers 8 reform areas with States & UTs. The District Plan covers 43 NOCs/Permissions/ Registrations/ Certificates which will ease regulations for sectors like retail, education, health, food and beverages, real estate, gems and jewellery mining and entertainment.

Year End Review 2020- (Department of Food & Public Distribution) Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution

Centrally Sponsored Pilot Scheme on “Fortification of Rice & its Distribution under Public Distribution System”: In order to take the country forward from food security to nutritional security, a Pilot Scheme of Rice Fortification is being implemented in 15 States (One district per State). Gradual scaling up of this initiative has also been envisaged to cover the other parts of the country in due course in a phased manner.

Implementation of Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS): Persistent efforts have resulted in universal implementation of the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA) in all States/UTs, benefitting about 80.60 Crore persons in the country by providing them access to highly subsidized foodgrains at Rs. 1/2/3 per Kg for Coarse-grains/Wheat/Rice respectively. 

Reforms on Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS)

The Government has allowed production of ethanol from sugar and sugar syrup for ethanol supply year 2019-20 (December, 2019 – November, 2020) and has fixed the remunerative ex-mill price of ethanol.

Launch of ‘Digital Ocean’ -the first of its kind digital platform for Ocean Data Management developed by INCOIS of MoES

Digital Ocean is a big step towards Digital India, will help expand ‘Blue Economy’ and promote Atmanirbhar Bharat

INCOIS has adopted and developed various state-of-the-art technologies and tools through sustained and focussed oceanographic research for the timely dissemination of ocean information and advisory Services that includes Potential Fishing Zone (PFZ) advisories, Ocean State Forecast (OSF), High Wave Alerts, Tsunami early warnings, Storm Surge and Oil-Spill advisories, etc.

Digital Ocean platform is a first of its kind platform for ocean data management (www.do.incois.gov.in). It includes a set of applications developed to organize and present heterogeneous oceanographic data by adopting rapid advancements in geospatial technology. It facilitates an online interactive web-based environment for data integration, 3D and 4D (3D inspace with time animation) data visualization, data analysis to assess the evolution of oceanographic features, data fusion and multi-format download of disparate data from multiple sources viz., in-situ, remote sensing and model data, all of which is rendered on a georeferenced 3D Ocean. User Management component of Digital Ocean allows authentication of users, their roles and privileges of access to different data sets, categorization of data as per the data sharing guidelines, metadata management, mail management, usage statistics, system statistics, monitoring of observing platforms and addition of new data streams, etc.Digital Ocean will serve as a one stop-solution for all the data related needs of a wide range of users.

Year End Review -2020: Ministry of New and Renewable Energy

Government of India has been driving a vibrant renewable energy programme aimed at achieving energy security, energy access and reducing the carbon footprints of the national economy. This is in line with India’s commitments under the 2015 Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions intensity by 33 to 35 percent below 2005 levels, and to achieve 40 percent of installed electric power capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030. With progressively declining costs, improved efficiency and reliability renewable energy is now an attractive option for meeting the energy needs across different sectors of the economy. However, renewable energy technologies are still evolving in terms of technological maturity and cost competitiveness, and face numerous market related, economic and social barriers.

India’s total renewable energy installed capacity (excluding hydro power above 25 MW) had reached over 89.63 GW. During the last 6 years, India has witnessed the fastest rate of growth in renewable energy capacity addition among all large economies, with renewable energy capacity growing by 2.5 times and solar energy expanding by over 13 times.Renewable energy now constitutes over 24 per cent of the country’s installed power capacity and around 11.62 per cent of the electrical energy generation. If large hydro is included, the share of renewable energy in electric installed capacity would be over 36 percent and over 26 per cent of the electric energy generation. Around 49.59 GW renewable energy capacity is under installation, and an additional 27.41 GW capacity has been tendered. This makes the total capacity that is already commissioned and in the pipe line about 166.63 GW. Further, large hydro power, which has also been declared as renewable energy has about 45 GW hydro installed capacity and 13 GW capacity under installation. This brings our total renewable energy portfolio of installed and in pipeline projects to 221 GW.

National Solar Mission (NSM): Harnessing solar energy is one the major component of India’s renewable energy strategy. Most parts of India receive abundant solar radiation and the country has an estimated solar energy potential of about 750 GW solar power. Numerous facilitative programmes and schemes under the Mission have driven the grid connected solar power installed capacity from 25 MW in the year 2010-11 to about 36.32 GW as on 31st October 2020. An additional 58.31 GW solar power capacity is currently under installation/ tendering process.

Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM): PM-KUSUM Scheme is an ambitious scheme consisting of three components for providing water and energy security to farmers and enhancing their income by making Annadata also aUrjadata. During the budget for 2020-21 expansion of scheme was announced to increase quantity of standalone solar pumps covered under the scheme from 17.5 lakh to 20 lakh pumps and quantity of solarisation of grid connected pumps from 10 lakh to 15 lakh. With expansion the target solar capacity under the Scheme has increased to 30.8 GW from earlier 25.8 GW.

Solar Parks Scheme: To facilitate large scale grid connected solar power projects, a scheme for “Development of Solar Parks and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects” is under implementation with a target capacity of 40 GW capacity by March 2022. Solar parks provide solar power developers with a plug and play model, by facilitating necessary infrastructure like land, power evacuation facilities, road connectivity, water facility etc. along with all statuary clearances.

Wind Power: India’s wind power potential at hub height of 120 meters is 695 GW. The wind power installed capacity has grown by 1.8 times during past 6.5 years to about 38.26 GW (as on 31st October 2020) and India now has the 4th largest wind power capacity in the world. The wind energy sector is led by the indigenous wind power industry with a strong project ecosystem, operation capabilities and a manufacturing base of about 10 GW per annum. 

Scheme for procurement of blended wind power from 2500 MW ISTS connected projects: The objective of the Scheme is to provide a framework for procurement of electricity from 2500 MW ISTS Grid Connected Wind Power Projects with up to 20% blending with Solar PV Power through a transparent process of bidding. Solar Energy Corporation of India Ltd. (SECI) is the nodal agency for implementation of the Scheme. It has provisions for payment security mechanism, commission schedule, power offtake constraints, power purchase agreement, etc. 

Green Energy Corridor: In order to facilitate renewable power evacuation and reshaping the grid for future requirements, the Green Energy Corridor (GEC) projects have been initiated. The present efforts are focused on strengthening institutions, resources and protocols, and investing judiciously in grid infrastructure.

Policies and Initiatives: 

  1. To create a pan-India renewable energy market and encourage setting up of the renewable energy projects in high renewable resource potential areas, in September 2016, waiver of Inter State Transmission System charges and losses for sale of power from solar and wind power projects was notified. This waiver has been extended to projects to be commissioned up to 30 June 2023.
  2. Competitive Bidding guidelines for procurement of solar and wind power have been notified under section 63 of Electricity Act, 2003. These Guidelines provide for standardization and uniformity of the procurement process and a risk-sharing framework between various stakeholders, thereby encouraging investments, enhancing bankability of projects and improving profitability. The Guidelines also facilitate transparency and fairness in the procurement processes which have resulted in the drastic fall in solar and wind power prices over the past few years
  3. Solar rooftop systems have been promoted in commercial /industrial/Govt. sector /residential sector through policy and regulatory interventions e.g. mandatory solar provision in the Model Building bye-laws of MoHUA and concessional financing arrangement through Banks/FIs in addition to central financial assistance for residential sector and achievement based incentives to DISCOMs. 
  4. Foreign investors can enter into joint venture with an Indian partner for financial and/or technical collaboration and for setting up of renewable energy-based power generation projects. Upto 100 per cent foreign investment as equity qualifies for automatic approval.
  5. To build investor trust by ensuring payment security and tackle the risks related to delays in payments to independent power producers, DISCOMs have been mandated to issue and maintain letter of credit (LCs);
  6. For quality assurance, standards for deployment of solar photovoltaic systems/devices have been notified.
  7. Renewable energy projects have been given priority sector lending status for loans up to a limit of Rs 30 crore.
  8. Off-grid applications are promoted through provision of subsidies from the central government.
  9. Efforts have been undertaken to strengthen and expand the domestic manufacturing eco-system. 

Year End Review -2020-Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas

Year End Review -2020: Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways

SAGARMALA PROGRAMME

To harness the coastline, 14,500 km of potentially navigable waterways and strategic location on key international maritime trade routes, the Government of India has embarked on the ambitious Sagarmala Programme to promote port-led development in the country. 

The vision of the Programme is to reduce logistics cost of EXIM and domestic trade with minimal infrastructure investment. This includes

The Sagarmala programme has identified 504 projects under four pillars – 211 port modernization projects, 199 port connectivity projects, 32 port-led industrialization projects and 62 coastal community development projects which can unlock the opportunities for port-led development and are expected to mobilize more than Rs. 3.57 Lac Cr of infrastructure investment.

In the last 15 months (July 2019 – October 2020), 20 Sagarmala projects worth Rs. 4,543 crore have been completed which comprise 9 projects of Port Modernization worth Rs. 1,405crore, 7 Port Connectivity projects worth Rs. 2,799 crore and 4 Coastal Community Development projects worth Rs. 339 crore.

Challenges faced by the shipping and ports sector and recent policy initiatives

SHIPPING: Achievements in the shipping sector 

  1. Government has reduced GST from 18% to 5% on bunker fuel for both coastal vessels and foreign going vessels.  
  2. Government has brought parity in the tax regime of Indian seafarers employed on Indian flag ships vis-à-vis those on foreign flag ships. 
  3. Indian shipping industry has been provided cargo support through Right of First Refusal
  4. In order to assist Indian flag vessels to efficiently offer coastal transportation services between the East Coast and West Coast of India, including North East India as well as carriage of EXIM cargo to/from Sri Lanka/Bangladesh and India, the Government has allowed carriage of coastal cargo from one Indian port to another Indian port via foreign ports in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.   
  5. Due to limited availability of return cargo on most of the coastal shipping routes, the cost of repositioning of empty containers was high, which increases the total logistic cost of coastal shipping.  With a view to reduce the logistic cost of coastal shipping, Government has allowed use of Imported Containers for carrying domestic cargo.
  6. In order to provide level playing field between the tax treatment on EXIM containers owned by foreign shipping lines and domesticated containers, Government has allowed use of locally manufactured or domesticated ISO containers conforming to the specifications from the International Organization (ISO), for transportation of EXIM cargo.
  7. Government has removed licensing requirement for chartering of foreign registered ships for encouraging coastal movement of agriculture and other commodities, fertilizers, EXIM laden Transshipment Containers and Empty containers, etc.

Coastal Shipping: Besides being fuel-efficient and environment friendly, Coastal shipping is capable of transporting large volumes of cargoes vis-a-vis other modes of transport and is potentially the cheapest mode of transport. However, due to certain intrinsic impediments, the share of coastal shipping in India is around 6%, which is much lower than that of developed countries.

Ramayan Cruise: Ramayan Cruise Tour’ on the Saryu river in Ayodhya will be launched soon.

Lighthouses as Tourism Attraction: A high level meeting was held for developing around 194 existing lighthouses across India as Major tourist attractions. It will boost the tourism activities in lighthouses surrounding areas and give an opportunity to know about the enriched history of lighthouses.

National Maritime Heritage Complex: A world class National Maritime Heritage Complex will be developed at Lothal, Gujarat Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the Ministry of Shipping of Government of Indian and Ministry of National Defence, Republic of Portugal.

Year End Review 2020- Ministry of Coal

Launch of TiHAN-IIT Hyderabad’- India’s first Test bed for Autonomous Navigation Systems (Terrestrial and Aerial)

The Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, has sanctioned Rs. 135 crores to IIT Hyderabad under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to set up a Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems (UAVs, RoVs, etc.). 

TiHAN Foundation, established at IIT Hyderabad, is a multi-departmental initiative, including researchers from Electrical, Computer Science, Mechanical and Aerospace, Civil, Mathematics, and Design at IIT Hyderabad with collaboration and support from reputed institutions and industry. It is a great step towards ‘AtmaNibhar Bharat’, ‘Skill India’ and ‘Digital India’. With an essential focus on the research and development of interdisciplinary technologies in the specific domain area of “Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems,” this hub focuses on addressing various challenges hindering the real-time adoption of unmanned autonomous vehicles for both terrestrial and aerial applications

One major requirement to make unmanned and connected vehicles more acceptable to the consumer society is to demonstrate its performance in real-life scenarios. However, it may become dangerous. Especially in terms of safety, to directly use the operational roadway facilities as experimental test tracks for unmanned and connected vehicles. In general, both UAV and UGV testing may include crashes and collisions with obstacles, resulting in damage to costly sensors and other components. Hence, it is important to test new technologies developed in a safe, controlled environment before deployment.

Several organizations worldwide have developed test beds or proving grounds to investigate the functioning of unmanned and connected vehicles in a controlled environment by replicating different scenarios, ranging from frequently occurring to extreme cases that may ensue in real-life traffic operations. At present, there is no such test bed facility in India to evaluate the autonomous navigation of vehicles. Therefore, it is envisioned to address this gap by developing a fully functional and exemplary test bed facility dedicated to Connected Autonomous Vehicles – CAVsin a portion of the beautiful IIT Hyderabad campus. The hub’s focus sectors include Intelligent, Autonomous Transportation and Systems, Agriculture, Surveillance, and Environmental & Infrastructure Monitoring.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai develops Eye Cancer therapy in the form of the first indigenous Ruthenium 106 Plaque for treatment of Ocular Tumours

(Topic: Science and Technology)

The handling of plaque is very convenient for the Surgeon and it has been acknowledged to be at par with the international standards.

The BARC plaques made in India through the Department of Atomic Energy have been used for seven cases for Ocular Cancer, out of which two were Retinoblastoma, two were Choroidal Melanoma, two Ocular Surface Squamous Neoplasia (OSSN) and one case of Choroidal Hemangioma. The Plaque handling is very much Surgeon-friendly and the preliminary results are very satisfactory, according to him.

DRDO Young Scientists Laboratory Develops Quantum based technology for Random Number Generation

(Topic: Science and Technology)

Random numbers have essential roles in many fields, such as Quantum Communication, cryptography (key generation, key wrapping, authentication etc.), scientific simulations, lotteries and fundamental physics experiments. The generation of genuine randomness is generally considered impossible with classical means. Quantum Mechanics has the inherent potential of providing true random numbers and thus has become the preferred option for the scientific applications requiring randomness.           

DRDO Young Scientist Laboratory for Quantum Technologies (DYSL-QT) has developed a Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) which detects random quantum events and converts those into a stream of binary digits. The Laboratory has developed a fiber-optic branch path based QRNG. Branch path based QRNG is based on the principle that if a single photon is incident on a balanced beam splitter, it will take either of the beam-splitter output paths randomly. As the path chosen by photon is random, the randomness is translated to sequence of bits.

QRNG system developed by the laboratory has passed the global randomness testing standards viz. NIST and Die-harder Statistical Test Suites at the speed of ~150 kbps after post-processing. The generated random numbers are also evaluated and verified using DRDO’s indigenously developed Randomness Testing Statistical Test Suite of SAG.  With this development India enters the club of countries who have the technology to achieve the generation of random numbers based on the Quantum Phenomenon

Prelims-oriented News

100th Kisan Rail: From Sangola in Maharashtra to Shalimar in West Bengal

India’s first-ever driverless train operations: On Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line

Inauguration of Country’s First Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine: The vaccine “Pneumosil” has been developed by the Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) in collaboration with partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

MISSION SAGAR III – INS KILTAN ARRIVES AT SIHANOUKVILLE, CAMBODIA

Indian Naval Ship Kiltan arrived at Sihanoukville Port, Cambodia on 29 December 2020 as part of ongoing Mission Sagar-III. 

National Medicinal Plants Board Launches Consortia for Medicinal Plants

National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), Ministry of AYUSH envisages the necessity of connectivity between stakeholders in the supply chain and value chain of Medicinal Plants.

NMPB Consortia will address/deliberate (not limited to) on Quality Planting Material, Research & Development, Cultivation, Trade of medicinal plants/market linkage etc.

Giant Rock Bee Honey, a Unique Variant of Honey Sourced From Malayali Tribes of Tamil Nadu Added to Tribes India Collection

More than 35 new, attractive, immunity-boosting tribal products have found a new home in Tribes India outlets and website in the 8th edition of “From Our Home to your Home”’ campaign. The campaign had been launched 8 weeks back by TRIFED under Ministry of Tribal Affairs in order to source as many effective, natural, and attractive products from diverse indigenous tribes across the country so that these can reach a wide variety of audience.

Malayali is a tribal group from the Eastern Ghats in North Tamil Nadu. With a population of around 3,58,000 people they are the largest Scheduled tribes in that region. The tribals are usually hill farmers and they cultivate different types of millet.

International Blue Flag hoisted at 8 beaches across the Country

India secured the International Blue Flag Certification for the beaches on 6th October 2020, when an International Jury comprising of member organizations UNEP, UNWTO, UNESCO, IUCN, ILS, FEE etc. announced the award at Copenhagen, Denmark. 

Blue Flag certification is a globally recognised eco-label accorded by “Foundation for Environment Education in Denmark” based on 33 stringent criteria. Neat and clean beaches are an indicator that the coastal environment is in good health and the Blue Flag certification is a global recognition of India’s conservation and sustainable development efforts.

Cleaning beaches needs to be a made a “Jan Andolan”not only for its aesthetic value and tourism prospects, but more importantly towards reducing the menace of marine litter and making coastal environment sustainable.

The beaches where the International Blue Flags were hoisted are: Kappad (Kerala), Shivrajpur (Gujarat), Ghoghla (Diu), Kasarkod and Padubidri (Karnataka), Rushikonda (Andhra Pradesh), Golden (Odisha) and Radhanagar (Andaman & Nicobar Islands).

India started its journey of sustainable development of coastal regions on World Environment Day in June’ 2018 by launching its beach cleaning campaign – I-AM- SAVING-MY-BEACH simultaneously at 13 coastal states and thereafter implementing ministry’s coveted program BEAMS(Beach Environment & Aesthetics Management Services).

Year End Review 2020 –Ministry of Steel

Technology based startups played a crucial role in converting India from importer to second largest manufacturer of PPEs

A range of low cost innovative technologies developed and scaled up by start-ups from different corners of the country played a crucial role in India emerging globally as a the second largest Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturer in the world’s battle against COVID-19.

PPEs like masks, face shields especially those used by medical professionals as protection from infection as they tackle the health emergency is a crucial shield in the battle against COVID 19. India had been importing PPEs at the start of the pandemic period, but a range of technologies like affordable mask making machines, low cost masks, reusable anti-viral and anti-bacterial masks, safety masks specifically designed for health workers by start-ups helped the country to turn the tables and start exporting them.

Quotes:

The Vice President, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu 

Vice President calls for mass media campaign to educate people on single use plastics

Problem is not with plastics, the problem lies in our attitude towards handling of plastics

Polymers have increased the quality of life immensely

Appreciated the importance of plastics during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic as they have been used extensively in manufacturing of medical protection equipment and PPE kits, which have played a significant role in preventing its spread. 

Polymeric materials are also being used widely to create medical tools and devices like insulin pens, IV tubes, implants and tissue engineering as well.

Underlining the importance of polymers in Indian economy, he said that 30,000 plus plastics processing units are employing over four million people across the country. He also mentioned that with an average national consumption of roughly 12 kilograms per capita per year, India ranks among the top five consumers of polymers in the world.

Observing that the demand for polymers is growing by 8%, the Vice President said that the global petrochemical industry is projected to reach USD 958.8 billion by 2025. He opined that various Government programs like Make in India and Start-up India will go a long way in creating the ecosystem for the next-generation research and indigenous technological advancements in the Petrochemical sector.

The Vice President said that the availability of domestically manufactured raw materials is one of the major strengths of the polymer industry which will help in its growth. Terming the current trend in India’s plastics exports as highly encouraging, he said that the Indian plastics export industry has always offered excellent potential in terms of capacity, infrastructure, and skilled manpower.

The Challenge: While India is one of 63 countries with EPR, its guidelines for the same continue to be vague. There isn’t much clarity on how much of single-use plastic a company puts out needs to be taken back by it.

Plastic waste management

The Plastic Waste Management Rules, 2016 notified by the Centre called for a ban on “non-recyclable and multi-layered” packaging by March 2018, and a ban on carry bags of thickness less than 50 microns (which is about the thickness of a strand of human hair). The Rules were amended in 2018, with changes that activists say favoured the plastic industry and allowed manufacturers an escape route. The 2016 Rules did not mention SUPs.

Single-use plastic alternatives

There is no viable alternative as of now for single-use plastic items.  The alternative to single-use plastic items, especially single-use plastic bottles, which are used to sell packaged drinking water, needs to be affordable for the consumers. A drinking water bottle, which costs Rs 20 currently, cannot be priced higher than that. Further, customers have shown confidence in the sealed water bottles over the years and hence, the alternative should also be up to the mark. 

Since recycling of plastic is not a permanent solution, manufacturers of single-use plastic have been asked to look for other alternatives that are biodegradable. Railway ministry, which manufactures and sells packaged drinking water ‘Rail Neer’ is also looking for alternatives including polymers to make their packaging biodegradable.  

Are alternatives such as compostable or biodegradable plastics viable?

Although compostable, biodegradable or even edible plastics made from various materials such as bagasse (the residue after extracting juice from sugarcane), corn starch, and grain flour are promoted as alternatives, these currently have limitations of scale and cost.

Some biodegradable packaging materials require specific microorganisms to be broken down, while compostable cups and plates made of polylactic acid, a popular resource derived from biomass such as corn starch, require industrial composters. On the other hand, articles made through a different process involving potato and corn starch have done better in normal conditions, going by the experience in Britain. Seaweed is also emerging as a choice to make edible containers.

In India, though, in the absence of robust testing and certification to verify claims made by producers, spurious biodegradable and compostable plastics are entering the marketplace. In January this year, the CPCB said that 12 companies were marketing carry bags and products marked ‘compostable’ without any certification, and asked the respective State Pollution Control Boards to take action on these units.

A ban on single-use plastic items would have to therefore lay down a comprehensive mAechanism to certify the materials marketed as alternatives, and the specific process required to biodegrade or compost them. A movement against plastic waste would have to prioritise the reduction of single-use plastic such as multi-layer packaging, bread bags, food wrap, and protective packaging. Consumers often have no choice in the matter. Other parts of the campaign must focus on tested biodegradable and compostable alternatives for plates, cutlery and cups, rigorous segregation of waste and scaled up recycling. City municipal authorities play a key role here.

The Way Ahead – How to get rid of the plastic menace?

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