International Relations/Bilateral Relations/GSII
India-Central Asia Virtual Summit

What's the NEWS

• Prime Minister of India hosted the first India-Central Asia Summit in virtual format on 27 January 2022, which was attended by Presidents of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Republic of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Republic of Uzbekistan.
• This first India-Central Asia coincided with the 30^th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Central Asian countries.

• During the Summit, Prime Minister of India and the Central Asian Leaders discussed the next steps in taking India-Central Asia relations to new heights.
• In a historic decision, the Leaders agreed to institutionalize the Summit mechanism by deciding to hold it every 2 years.
• They also agreed on regular meetings of Foreign Ministers, Trade Ministers, Culture Ministers and Secretaries of the Security Council to prepare the groundwork for the Summit meetings.
• An India-Central Asia Secretariat in New Delhi would be set up to support the new mechanism.
• The Leaders discussed far-reaching proposals to further cooperation in areas of trade and connectivity, development cooperation, defence and security and, in particular, on cultural and people to people contacts.
• These included a Round-Table on Energy and Connectivity; Joint Working Groups at senior official level on Afghanistan and use of Chabahar Port; showcasing of Buddhist exhibitions in Central Asian countries and commissioning of an India-Central Asia dictionary of common words, joint counter-terrorism exercises, visit of 100 member youth delegation annually from Central Asian countries to India and special courses for Central Asian diplomats.

What's the NEWS

• Summer crops not only provide extra income but also create employment opportunities in between Rabi and Kharif for the farmers thereby increasing crop intensity.
• The Government has taken new initiatives through various programmes for cultivation of summer crops such as pulses, coarse cereals, nutri-cereals, and oilseeds.
• Though more than half of cultivated area in summer season is under pulses, oilseeds and nutri-cereals, the farmers with irrigation source are growing rice and vegetables during the summer season.
• The area under cultivation of zaid crops including rice has increased progressively 2.7 times from 29.71 lakh hectares in 2017-18 to 80.46 lakh hectares in 2020-21.

• The objective of Zaid conference is to review and assess the crop performance during the preceding crop seasons and fix crop-wise targets for summer season in consultation with State Governments.
• The Minister assured full support to ensure supply of critical inputs and facilitate adoption of innovative technologies with a view to enhance production and productivity of the crops.
• The priority of government is to increase production of oilseeds and pulses where large imports are required.

• States should use new varieties of seeds for better production of summer crops.
• States should increase the use of NPK and liquid urea and reduce the dependence on DAP fertilizers.
• Other highlights
• Country produced 3086.47 lakh tonnes of food grains during 2020-21 (4th Advance Estimates), which will be an all-time record.
• Pulses and oilseed production has also achieved all time high at 257.19 and 361.01 lakh tonnes, respectively.
• Production of cotton is being estimated at 353.84 lakh bales with which India is set to rise to the first position in the world.
• On the production and productivity fronts, the horticulture sector has also outperformed conventional food grain crops.

• Zaid crops are grown between Kharif and Rabi Seasons, i.e., between March to June.
• They require warm, dry weather as a vital growth period and longer day length for flowering.
• Zaid crop is significant for farmers as it gives fast cash to the farmers and is also known as gap-filler between two chief crops, Kharif and Rabi.
• Examples: Cucumber, Pumpkin, Bitter gourd, Watermelon, Muskmelon, Sugarcane, Groundnut, Pulses, etc.

• Union Minister of State for Culture released a pictorial book on India's Women Unsung Heroes of Freedom Struggle as part of Azadi ka Mahotsav
• The book has been released in partnership with Amar Chitra Katha which is a household name in India.
• Ministry of Culture has decided to release pictorial books on 75 Unsung Heroes of the Freedom Struggle in partnership with Amar Chitra Katha
• The second edition will be on 25 unsung Tribal Freedom Fighters which is under process and will take some time. The third and final edition will be of 30 unsung heroes drawn from other areas.

• Rani Abakka, the Queen of Ullal, Karnataka fought and defeated the mighty Portuguese in the 16th century.
• Velu Nachiyar, the queen of Sivaganga was the first Indian queen to wage war against the British East India Company.
• Jhalkari Bai, was a woman soldier who grew to become one of the key advisors to the Rani of Jhansi and a prominent figure in the First War of Indian Independence, 1857.
• Matangini Hazra was a brave freedom fighter from Bengal, who laid down her life while agitating against the British.
• Gulab Kaur was a freedom fighter who abandoned her own hopes and dreams of a life abroad to fight for and mobilise the Indian people against the British Raj.
• Chakali Ilamma was a revolutionary woman who fought against the injustice of zamindars during the Telangana rebellion in the mid-1940s.
• Padmaja Naidu, the daughter of Sarojini Naidu and a freedom fighter in her own right, who would later become Governor of West Bengal and a humanitarian after Independence.
• Bishni Devi Shah, a woman who inspired large number of people in Uttarakhand to join the freedom movement.
• Subhadra Kumari Chauhan was one of the greatest Hindi poets, who was also a prominent figure in the freedom movement.
• Durgawati Devi was the brave woman who provided safe passage to Bhagat Singh after the killing of John Saunders and much more during her revolutionary days.
• Sucheta Kripalani, a prominent freedom fighter, became independent India's first woman Chief Minister of UP Government.
• Accamma Cherian, an inspirational leader of the freedom movement in Travancore, Kerala, she was given the name 'Jhansi Rani of Tranvancore' by Mahatma Gandhi.
• Aruna Asaf Ali was an inspirational freedom fighter who is perhaps best remembered for hoisting the Indian National flag in Mumbai during the Quit India Movement in 1942.
• Durgabai Deshmukh, a tireless worker for the emancipation of women in Andhra Pradesh, she was also an eminent freedom fighter and member of the Constituent Assembly.
• Rani Gaidinliu, the Naga spiritual and political leader, led an armed uprising against the British in Manipur, Nagaland and Assam.
• Usha Mehta was a freedom fighter from a very young age, who is remembered for organizing an underground radio station during the Quit India Movement of 1942.
• Parbati Giri, one of Odisha's most prominent women freedom fighters, was called the Mother Teresa of Western Odisha for her work in the upliftment of her people.
• Tarkeshwari Sinha, a prominent freedom fighter during the Quit India Movement, she went on to become an eminent politician in the early decades of independent India.
• Snehlata Varma, a freedom fighter and tireless worker for the education and upliftment of women in Mewar, Rajasthan.
• Tileshwari Baruah, one of India's youngest martyrs, she was shot at the age of 12 by the British, during the Quit India Movement, when she and some freedom fighters tried to unfurl the Tricolour atop a police station.

What's the NEWS

• Indian Navy's premier technical training institute INS Valsura organised a workshop on the contemporary topic 'Leveraging Artificial Intelligence (Al) for Indian Navy'
• Conducted under the aegis of Southern Naval Command, speakers from renowned IT Companies like Google, IBM, Infosys and TCS shared the industry perspective during the three-day event.
• The webinar conducted saw online participation by over 500 participants from across the country.

• Indian Navy is focused on incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) in critical mission areas.
• Located at Jamnagar, INS Valsura has already been designated as the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in the field of Big Data and a state of art lab on AI and Big Data Analysis (BDA) was set up in Jan 2020.
• The Navy is currently in the process of creating a Centre of Excellence (CoE) in the field of AI at INS Valsura, which has been instrumental in progress of pilot projects pertaining to adoption of AI and BDA in the domain of maintenance, HR and perception assessment, in collaboration with academia and industry.
• In addition, the Navy is deeply involved in unifying and reorganising its enterprise data, as data is the fuel for all AI engines.
• Organisationally, the Navy has formed an AI core group which meets twice a year for assessing all AI/ ML initiatives.

• EdCIL (India) Limited, a Mini Ratna Category-I CPSE of the Ministry of Education, Government of India, paid a dividend of Rs 11.5 Crorefor the year 2020-21.
• The company registered a turnover of Rs. 332.83 Crore (highest ever turnover) and Profit After Tax(PAT) of Rs. 36.89 Crore during the year 2020-21.

• EdCIL (India) Limited (earlier known as Educational Consultants India Limited) is a Public Sector Undertaking in India under the administrative control of the Ministry of Education,
• EdCIL offers management and consultancy services in all areas of education and human resource development, both within India and overseas.
• EdCIL was incorporated as a Public Sector enterprise by the Government of India in 1981
• EdCIL has been primarily working in the domain of online assessment, educational infrastructure & procurement, digital education, and preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) for educational institutions.
• It has laid down blueprints for majority of eminent engineering and management institutions of India namely IITs, IIMs, and IISERs.
• The Government of India has designated EdCIL to implement Study in India educational campaign.
• The Study in India program aims to make India a preferred destination for higher education.
• EdCIL has worked for providing consultancy to Asian Development Bank (ADB).
• Previously, it had completed projects in various countries including Tanzania, Zanzibar, Rwanda and Ghana.
• It has commissioned projects for skill development and education quality improvement in India under supervision of the World Bank.
• Since 2018, EdCIL has been executing a smart classroom project in the Republic of Mauritius for primary schools.

What's the NEWS

• The National Regulator, Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), has given nod to market authorization of two COVID19 vaccines, Covaxin and Covishield subject to certain conditions, here today.
• The Subject Expert Committee (SEC) of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) had recommended for upgradation of status for the vaccines from restricted use in emergency situations to grant of new drug permission with conditions in the adult population on 19th January 2022.
• It may be noted that of the global Stringent Regulatory Authorities, only the United States Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) of the UK have granted "conditional market authorization" to Pfizer and AstraZeneca, respectively, for their COVID19 Vaccines.
• "Conditional Market Authorization" is a new category of market authorization that has emerged during the current global pandemic of COVID19.
• The approval pathways through this route are fast-tracked with certain conditions to enhance the access to certain pharmaceuticals for meeting the emerging needs of drugs or vaccines.

• Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India,in partnership with Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) launched the Swachhata Start-Up Challenge to provide an impetus to innovative start-ups to come forward and drive catalytic transformation in the sanitation and waste management sector.

• The Challenge seeks to promote an enabling environment for enterprise development under Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0 (SBM-U 2.0).
• The Swachhata Start-Up Challenge launched aims to capitalise on the start-up movement by providing opportunities for entrepreneurship to young innovators to create socially impactful and market ready business solutions.
• The Challenge, which is open to start-ups registered in India and French actors collaborating with an Indian start-up (as a joint venture), invites solutions across four thematic areas viz. (i) social inclusion, (ii) zero dump (solid waste management), (iii)plastic waste management and(iv)transparency through digital enablement.
• The Challenge provides a prominent platform to participating enterprises to showcase their innovative products and services along with significant monetary and mentorship incentive -top 10 awardees stand to receive Rs.25 lakhs along with one year of dedicated incubation support from French Tech, the French government's initiative to promote start-ups.
• Apart from this these, eligible startups will get additional incentives which includes upto Rs. 50 Lakhs follow-on investment from Villgro,the implementation partner of the Challenge andupto 100,000 USD worth credits and technology support from technology partner Amazon Web Services, to each winner.

• MoHUA and the French Government share a long-standing association for promoting sustainable urban development in India
• France and India are committed to taking joint action against plastic pollution, and the AFD-MoHUA Swachhata Startup Challenge is a concrete step in this direction.
• The French Development Agency will provide seed funding to the tune of 25 lakh rupees and one year of customized support to each of the 10 selected start-ups.
• This initiative also comes at a time when France and the EU are looking to work closely with India on the international stage to negotiate a global treaty on plastic pollution.

• A first-time initiative by SBM-U 2.0 launched in December 2021 to encourage start-ups, individual entrepreneurs, educational institutions, local businesses, research and development organisations, NGOs, and other citizen groups to help city administration efficiently manage Mission operations through technology driven operations.
• The Technology Challenge received wholehearted participation from States/ Union Territories and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), with over 2,500 entries received from across urban India.
• Winning solutions from start-ups under Swachh Technology Challenge which are presently being reviewed, will now get direct entry into the Swachhata Start-Up Challenge launched today by MoHUA.

• It was launched on 1st October 2021, aims to achieve the vision of ‘Garbage Free Cities' over the next five years through remediation of legacy dumpsites, construction and demolition waste and plastic waste management.
• Additionally, sustainable sanitation through faecal sludge and used water management will be a key focus under SBM-U 2.0.
• Over the years, SBM-U has been encouraging innovations and best practices particularly through Swachh Survekshan, the annual cleanliness survey conducted by MoHUA.

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