Bilateral Relations/GSII
India - Mauritius

What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister of India and Prime Minister of Mauritius jointly inaugurated the India-assisted Social Housing Units project in Mauritius virtually on 20 January, 2022
• The two dignitaries also launch the Civil Service College and 8MW Solar PV Farm projects in Mauritius that are being undertaken under India's development support.
• An Agreement on extending a US$ 190 mn Line of Credit (LoC) from India to Mauritius for the Metro Express Project and other infrastructure projects; and MoU on the implementation of Small Development Projects were exchanged.

• In September 2021, Maldives state-owned Fahi Dhiriulhun Corporation signed loan agreements with India's state-owned National Buildings Construction Company (NBCC) and JMC Projects (India) Ltd, to develop 4,000 social housing units in Hulhulmalé (phase 2) island.
• India's state owned Exim Bank extended buyer's credit of approximately $228 million for the construction of these housing units.
• The signing of this agreement comes weeks after the Maldives government officially inked a deal with Mumbai-based company AFCONS, for the construction of the Greater Malé Connectivity Project (GMCP), a $500-million infrastructure project which is the largest-ever by India in the Maldives.
• India has been making significant investments in various development projects in the archipelagic state.

• It is an important requirement in the Maldives because in addition to housing shortage, high rent prices are a major challenge for ordinary people in the country.
• The construction of flats for social housing was initiated by the Mauritius government in 1990 with financial assistance from China.
• In its National Housing Policy of 2008, the Maldives government stated that the policy would prioritise ensuring "a decent home for every household in the country
• India's financial assistance to the Maldives, including loans and grants for various infrastructure and development projects, exceeded $2 billion, in line with its ‘Neighbourhood First' policy to strengthen ties with Malé.

• The Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister has approved the extension of the tenure of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) for three years beyond 31.3.2022.
• The major beneficiaries would be the Safai Karamcharis and identified manual scavengers in the country since the NCSK for 3 more years beyond 31.3.2022.

• The NCSK was established in the year 1993 as per the provisions of the NCSK Act 1993 initially for the period upto 31.3.1997.
• Later the validity of the Act was initially extended upto 31.3.2002 and thereafter upto 29.2.2004.
• The NCSK Act ceased to have effect from 29.2.2004.
• After that the tenure of the NCSK has been extended as a non-statutory body from time to time through resolutions. The tenure of the present Commission is upto 31.3.2022.
• The NCSK has been giving its recommendations to the Government regarding specific programmes for welfare of Safai Karamcharis, study and evaluate the existing welfare programmes for Safai Karamcharis, investigate cases of specific grievances etc.
• As per the provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, the NCSK has been assigned the work to monitor the implementation of the Act, tender advice for its effective implementation to the Centre and State Governments and enquire into complaints regarding contravention/non-implementation of the provisions of the Act.

Infrastructure Development; Energy/GSIII
Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA)

 What's the NEWS

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by the Prime Minister, approved the equity infusion of Rs.1500 crore in Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited (IREDA).
• This equity infusion will help in employment generation of approximately 10200 jobs-year and CO2 equivalent emission reduction of approximately 7.49 Million Tonnes CO2/year.

• IREDA, a mini ratna (Category-1) company under the administrative control of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) was set up in 1987 to work as a specialised non-banking finance agency for the Renewable Energy (RE) sector.
• IREDA with more than 34 years of techno-commercial expertise, plays a catalytic role in the RE project financing which gives confidence to the FIs/banks to lend in the sector.
• It is engaged in promoting, developing and extending financial assistance for setting up projects relating to new and renewable sources of energy and energy efficiency/conservation with the motto: "ENERGY FOR EVER"

What's the NEWS

• Union Power Secretary chaired the second meeting of Steering Committee for SAMARTH i.e. National Mission on Use of Biomass in coal based thermal Power Plants

• In order to reduce stubble burning and to reduce carbon footprint of Thermal Power Plants while increasing the income of farmers, Government of India has taken various proactive step with the establishment of National Mission on Use of Biomass in Thermal Power Plants.
• State-run power giant NTPC has emerged as the top biomass user, having co-fired about 58,000 MT of biomass, while tendering a total of 10.7 MMT over short-term and long-term basis
• The agro-residue/ biomass earlier considered as a waste product has now begun to produce zero-carbon electricity for the citizens of the country.
• In turn farmers are getting additional income by selling the stubble/ biomass for conversion into torrefied/ non-torrefied biomass pellets.
• For overall monitoring of the Mission and to facilitate the Mission on inter-ministerial issues/constraints, a Steering Committee under the chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Power (MoP) has been constituted.
• Ministry of Power's policy on "Biomass Utilization for Power Generation through Co-firing in Coal based Power Plants" issued in October 2021 mandates all thermal power plants in the country to use 5 to 10% biomass along with coal for power production.

• Experts from India and Israel deliberated on widening the scope of India-Israel Industrial R&D and Technological Innovation Fund (I4F) at its 8^th Governing Body meeting.
• They approved 3 joint R&D projects worth 5.5 million $ and suggested measures to create a broader India-Israel collaborative ecosystem.
• The governing body ratified the Minutes of Seventh Governing Board Meeting, which was followed by approval to 3 joint R&D projects with an overall budget of 5.4 million $.
• The projects were ‘Centrally Monitored IoT Nanosensors for Molecular Diagnostics in Healthcare and Screening Applications', ‘NoMoreMos- a mosquito control biological solution' and ‘IoT enabled satellite communication for real-time collection of agriculture and environment data across India'.
• So far, the priority areas have been Agriculture, Security and other important areas.
• There is further scope of increasing the quantum of projects received, which calls for the need to conduct more online meetings amongst the startup eco-system of Israel and India.

• It is a cooperation between the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, and the Israel Innovation Authority, Government of Israel to promote, facilitate and support joint industrial R&D projects between companies from India and Israel to address the challenges in the agreed ‘Focus Sectors'.
• I4F is aimed to promote, facilitate and support joint industrial R&D between India & Israel, which would lead to the co-development and commercialization of innovative technologies benefiting both countries.
• Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) is appointed to implement the I4F program in India, while Israel Innovation Authority is the implementing agency in Israel.

• An MoU was signed between NIF Incubation and Entrepreneurship Council (NIFientreC), a Technology Business Incubator (TBI) hosted by National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and Amazon India today for online distribution of product of grassroots innovations, student creativity based innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge based ready to market products.

• NIFientreC was established in the year 2015 with financial support from the DST for incubation and commercialization of technological ideas and innovations of grassroots innovators, outstanding traditional knowledge holders and students across the country.
• This MoU between Amazon, and NIFientreC, follows just couple of days after the declaration of 16th January, 2022 as the National Start-up Day by the Prime Minister of India and the announcement that the current decade would be the ‘techade' of India to take the start-up culture to the far flung areas of the country.
• The MoU signed will help strengthening the commercial dissemination of the innovative products from local startups and boost India's startup culture in line with these announcements.
• The MoU will accelerate the grassroots innovation delivery to the common people of the country, boosting the local economy and creating livelihoods.
• It will empower innovators from the deepest pockets of the country to leverage the benefits of inclusive e-commerce.
• The MoU will make innovations which are being done in rural parts of the country and stem from common people's wisdom, available universally.

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