NITI Aayog/Agriculture/GSIII
Indian Agriculture towards 2030

What's the NEWS

• Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare (MoA&FW) released a book titled Indian Agriculture towards 2030: Pathways for Enhancing Farmers' Income, Nutritional Security and Sustainable Food and Farm Systems, at an event organized by NITI Aayog and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Indian Agriculture towards 2030

• Indian Agriculture towards 2030 captures the outcomes of the deliberative process of a national dialogue by NITI Aayog and the Ministries of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare; and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, and facilitated by FAO since 2019.
• There is a need for a transformative vision for the next decade.
• Realizing this need, a national dialogue was initiated to think through this transformation
• The national dialogue was organized from 19 to 22 January 2021.
• It sought to complement the government's efforts in designing a post-Green Revolution future for the country, wherein agri-food systems can further nutritional targets, enhance livelihoods and safeguard human and ecological health.
• The areas that need special attention were identified through a collaborative process between NITI Aayog, MoA&FW, and FAO under the overall guidance of a steering committee comprising agricultural experts.

Indian Agriculture towards 2030 covers the following themes:

• Transforming Indian Agriculture
• Structural Reforms and Governance
• Dietary Diversity, Nutrition and Food Safety
• Managing Climate Risks in Agriculture
• Science, Technology and Innovation
• Symbiosis of Water and Agricultural Transformation in India
• Pests, Pandemics, Preparedness and Biosecurity
• Transformative Agroecology-Based Alternatives for a Sustainable and Biodiverse Future

Environment Conservation/GSIII
Carbon Capture, Utilisation and Storage

What's the NEWS

• NITI Aayog is organizing a national-level workshop on carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS)
• The workshop will be inaugurated by NITI Aayog Vice Chairman

Role of CCUS

• NITI Aayog recognizes the significant role of CCUS in achieving our climate targets.
• Recently, studies of the inter-governmental panel on climate change have shown the critical importance of carbon capture for rapidly decarbonizing our economy.
• This is especially important today for industrial emissions, which have not received the required attention.
• Net-zero carbon emissions from the atmosphere will, perhaps, play an even bigger role-potentially creating a new industry twice as large as today's oil industry.
• CCUS is an important imperative for an immediate transition to a zero carbon economy and is, accordingly, essential for the government to deliver its 2070 net zero commitment.
• NITI Aayog's workshop will bring together government officials, industry leaders and the academia to discuss the role of CCUS in enabling a circular economy for India.

Know! about CCUS

• Carbon capture, utilisation and storage, or CCUS, is an important emissions reduction technology that can be applied across the energy system.
• CCUS technologies involve the capture of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from fuel combustion or industrial processes, the transport of this CO₂ via ship or pipeline, and either its use as a resource to create valuable products or services or its permanent storage deep underground in geological formations.
• CCUS technologies also provide the foundation for carbon removal or "negative emissions" when the CO₂ comes from bio-based processes or directly from the atmosphere.

Science and Technology/GSIII
Param Shakti

What's the NEWS

• PARAM Shakti", a Petascale Supercomputer "at IIT Kharagpur, has been dedicated to the nation under National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) - a joint initiative of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Know! about PARAM Shakti

• PARAM Shakti supercomputing facility is accelerating the research and development activities in multidisciplinary domains of computational and data sciences as it provides large-scale computing power to the user community of IIT Kharagpur and neighbouring academic and R&D institutes.
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between IIT Kharagpur and Centre for Development in Advanced Computing (CDAC) in March 2019 to establish this state-of the art Supercomputing Facility with 17680 CPU cores along with 44 GPUs.
• This facility has pioneered in using RDHX based efficient cooling system to obtain a high power usage effectiveness.
• This system has been tested extensively by both IIT Kharagpur and CDAC for commercial, open-source and in-house software pertaining to diversified applications.
• IIT Kharagpur has been following the mandate of NSM towards development of computationally efficient software for supercomputing platforms and applications for large-scale industrial and scientific problems.
• IIT Kharagpur is also one of the NSM nodal centres for training in HPC and AI and working on development manpower required for the Supercomputing Research across the nation.
• The new high-performance computational facility would aid researchers to solve large-scale problems of different fields of Science and Engineering.
• This Supercomputing facility will provide a major boost to the research and development initiatives in Indian academia and industries to reach a position of global esteem.

Information given by Minister in the Parliament
Scheme of Financial Assistance for the Preservation and Development of Cultural Heritage of the Himalayas
Know! about the scheme

• Ministry of Culture administers a financial grant scheme by the name of ‘Scheme of Financial Assistance for the Preservation and Development of Cultural Heritage of the Himalayas' for the purpose of promoting, protecting and preserving the cultural heritage of Himalayan region spreading in Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh and States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh through research, documentation, dissemination etc.
• Under this scheme, financial assistance is provided to the Voluntary Organizations including Colleges and Universities for study and research on cultural heritage, preservation of old manuscripts, literature, art & crafts and documentation of cultural activities/ events like music & dance, dissemination through audio-visual programmes of art and culture and training in traditional and folk art.
• The quantum of funding is Rs.10.00 lakhs per year for an organization.
• The Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) on the scheme is empowered to recommend the amount beyond the maximum limit but not exceeding Rs.30.00 lakhs from this scheme.
• The said scheme is a Central Sector Scheme and no funds are released directly to the State Governments.
• Ministry of Culture administers a specific Financial Grant Scheme by the name of ‘Scheme of Financial Assistance for the Development of Buddhist/ Tibetan Culture and Art' to give financial assistance to the voluntary Buddhist/Tibetan organizations including Monasteries engaged in the propagation and scientific development of Buddhist/Tibetan culture, tradition and research in related fields.
• This scheme is applicable throughout the country including the Himalayan Region.

Programme on Seagrasses

Know! about Seagrasses and its benefits

• Seagrasses are flowering plants which are found in our sea beds and ocean floors.
• The major seagrass beds exist along our coastline of Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay regions on the east coast, Gulf of Kachchh region on the west coast, the lagoons of islands in Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea and Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal.
• Seagrass ecosystems are recognized globally for their ability to sequester carbon, nurture fish communities and support marine mammals such as sea cows or dugongs.
• Seagrasses have been studied for over two decades with the financial support of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the State/UT Governments.
• Based on field surveys and satellite data, the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management has estimated the total extent of seagrass ecosystem in India to be 516.59 km².
• The CO₂ sequestration rate of seagrass ecosystem is estimated to be up to 434.9 tonnes/km²/year with an annual net CO₂ sink of 0.75 million tonnes for an area of 517 km².

Projects initiated

• The Government initiated a project across the States of Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Odisha on enhancing climate resilience of India's coastal communities at a total cost of US $130.269 million which includes a grant of US$ 43.419 million by Global Climate Fund (GCF) covering 24 ecosystems in these selected States which aims to strengthen the climate resilience of coastal communities by protecting and restoring India's natural ecosystems such as mangroves and seagrasses.

The Green Climate Fund (GCF)

• It is a fund established within the framework of the UNFCCC as an operating entity of the Financial Mechanism to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change.
• The GCF is based in Incheon, South Korea. It is governed by a Board of 24 members and supported by a Secretariat.
• The objective of the Green Climate Fund is to "support projects, programmes, policies and other activities in developing country Parties using thematic funding windows".
• It is intended that the Green Climate Fund be the centrepiece of efforts to raise Climate Finance under the UNFCCC.

Defence/Prelims Factoids
Fleet Card - Fuel on Move

What's the NEWS

• Indian Air Force in collaboration with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has taken a leap forward in fuel supply chain management by introducing a ‘Fleet Card - Fuel on Move' for its varied fleet of vehicles.
• This innovative initiative taken by the Indian Air Force provides a paradigm shift to the logistics management of fuel.
• HQ Western Air Command was earmarked as lead agency in the implementation and execution of this innovative concept of "Fuel on Move".
• Availability of Fleet Card will permit the convoy to refuel at any IOCL fuel stations thus increasing the pace of movement and reducing the lead time for readiness at operational locations across the nation.

Indigenisation of Technology/GSIII
Fast Patrol Vessels
What's the NEWS

• Ministry of Defence has signed a contract with Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) for construction of eight Fast Patrol Vessels for Indian Coast Guard at a total project cost of Rs 473 crore.
• These surface platforms will be indigenously designed, developed and manufactured by GSL under Buy (Indian-IDDM) Category.
• These eight high speed vessels will be based along the coast of India with capability to operate in shallow waters and enhance the security apparatus along the vast coast line.
• This would boost the indigenous shipbuilding capability and increase employment opportunities in the sector.

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