Daily Current Capsules - 07^th October 2019

NITI Aayog
AIM NITI Aayog, UNDP India Jointly Launch Youth Co: Lab to accelerate youth-led social entrepreneurship and innovation in India

Relevance IN - Prelims (about Youth Co:Lab) + Mains (GS II Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation + GS III Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.

What's the NEWS

• In a latest initiative to recognize young people as critical drivers of sustainable development, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India launched Youth Co:Lab which aims at accelerating social entrepreneurship and innovation in young India.
• To mark the launch, a Letter of Intent (LOI) was signed between AIM, NITI Aayog and UNDP India.

Know! more about Youth Co : Lab

• Through Youth Co:Lab, young entrepreneurs and innovators will get a chance to connect with governments, mentors, incubators and investors, who will help equip them with entrepreneurial skills.
• The initiative will also convene a series of youth dialogues across several cities such as New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai to promote entrepreneurship across India.
• AIM and UNDP, as part of UNSDF signed between NITI Aayog and UN India, are collaborating to spread awareness about different issues pertaining to youth, the future of work and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through Youth Co:Lab.
• The first phase of Youth Co:Lab will focus on six SDGs: SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
• Targeted at supporting young people overcome challenges, UNDP and AIM, NITI Aayog will empower young people through innovative development ideas.
• Youth Co:Lab will convene social innovation challenges at the national and sub-national level, which will invite young people in the age group of 18-29 years and start-ups to showcase their proposed ideas and solutions to tackle some of the region's biggest social challenges.

About Youth Co:Lab

• It is an innovative platform for young people to explore their ideas and potentials, and bring to scale viable solutions, to accelerate India's progress on the SDGs.
• Co-created in 2017 by UNDP and the Citi Foundation, and operational in 25 countries across the Asia Pacific region, the Youth Co:Lab initiative aims to create an enabling ecosystem to promote youth leadership, innovation, and social entrepreneurship.

About Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)

• AIM including Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) is Government of India's endeavour to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
• Its objective is to serve as a platform for the promotion of world-class innovation hubs, grand challenges, start-up businesses and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology driven areas.

Health and Family Welfare
FSSAI's ‘Trans-Fat Free' logo launched gives a boost to "Eat Right India" Movement

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Eat right India movement + about REPLACE and about trans fat) + Mains ( GS II Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources
What's the NEWS

• Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare launched the "Trans Fat Free" logo of Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), at the 8^th International Chefs' Conference (ICC VII)
• This marked an important milestone in the movement against Trans-Fats and also provided a momentum to accelerate the ‘Eat Right India' movement of FSSAI.

The ‘Eat Right India' movement of FSSAI

• To improve public health in India and combat negative nutritional trends to fight lifestyle diseases, FSSAI launched 'The Eat Right Movement' on 10th July, 2018.
• The food industry, public health professionals, civil society and consumer organizations, influencers and celebrities came together on a common platform and pledged to take concrete steps to amplify ‘The Eat Right Movement' in the country. Read More external link
• The strength of the ‘The Eat Right Movement' lies in its holistic and collaborative approach, with stakeholders on both the demand and supply-side joining to make a difference through some clearly identified steps.
• On the demand side, the Eat Right Movement focuses on empowering citizens to make the right food choices.
• On the supply side, it nudges food businesses to reformulate their products, provide better nutritional information to consumers and make investments in healthy food as responsible food businesses.
• Trans fats are the worst type of fats with known health risks.
• India is committed to eliminating it from the food supply and is progressing towards its objective of trans fat elimination by 2022; a year ahead of the global target by WHO.
• FSSAI is committed to reducing the industrially produced trans fatty acids to less than 2% by the year 2022 in a phased manner and is geared up to get freedom from trans fats with the motto ‘India@75; Freedom from Trans Fats'

Green Purple initiative logo

• Dr Harsh Vardhan also launched the Green Purple initiative logo. The initiative aims to qualify the chefs on food safety legal requirements and sustainable cooking methods, in order to promote trans-fat free cooking.

Industrial trans-fats

• Industrial trans-fats are made by adding hydrogen to liquid vegetable oils to make them more solid, and to increase the shelf life of foods.
• Trans-fats are largely present in partially hydrogenated vegetable fats/oils, vanaspati, margarine and bakery shortenings, and can be found in baked and fried foods.
• The food establishments which use trans-fat free oil and do not have industrial trans-fat more than 0.2g/100g of food, in compliance with the Food Safety and Standards (Advertising and Claims) Regulations, 2018 can display "Trans-fat free" logo at their outlets and on their food products. The use of the said logo is voluntary.

Know! about REPLACE

• WHO released REPLACE, a step-by-step guide for the elimination of industrially-produced trans-fatty acids from the global food supply.
• Industrially-produced trans fats are contained in hardened vegetable fats, such as margarine and ghee, and are often present in snack food, baked foods, and fried foods.
• Manufacturers often use them as they have a longer shelf life than other fats. But healthier alternatives can be used that would not affect taste or cost of food.
• WHO calls on governments to use the REPLACE action package to eliminate industrially-produced trans-fatty acids from the food supply

REPLACE provides six strategic actions to ensure the prompt, complete, and sustained elimination of industrially-produced trans fats from the food supply:

• REview dietary sources of industrially-produced trans fats and the landscape for required policy change.
• Promote the replacement of industrially-produced trans fats with healthier fats and oils.
• Legislate or enact regulatory actions to eliminate industrially-produced trans fats.
• Assess and monitor trans fats content in the food supply and changes in trans fat consumption in the population.
• Create awareness of the negative health impact of trans fats among policy makers, producers, suppliers, and the public.
• Enforce compliance of policies and regulations.

Know! more about TRANS FATS

• There are two main sources for trans fats: natural sources (in the dairy products and meat of ruminants such as cows and sheep) and industrially-produced sources (partially hydrogenated oils).
• Partially hydrogenated oils were first introduced into the food supply in the early 20^th century as a replacement for butter
• WHO recommends that the total trans fat intake be limited to less than 1% of total energy intake, which translates to less than 2.2 g/day with a 2,000-calorie diet.

Textiles
Textiles Minister Smriti Irani to represent India at World Cotton Day celebrations in Geneva
Relevance IN - Prelims (about cotton and World cotton day) + Mains (GS II international organisations + GS III economic development)
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, is participating in the World Cotton Day being observed from 7^th October to 11^th October 2019 in Geneva.

Know! about the World cotton day

• The World Trade Organisation (WTO) is organizing World Cotton Day event in collaboration with the Secretariats of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Trade Centre (ITC) and the International Cotton Advisory Committee (ICAC).
• WTO is hosting the event at the request of the Cotton - 4 countries, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad and Mali to celebrate their official application for the recognition of 7^th October as World Cotton Day by the United Nations.

World Cotton Day (objective)

• World Cotton Day will celebrate the many advantages of cotton, from its qualities as a natural fibre, to the benefits people obtain from its production, transformation, trade and consumption.
• World Cotton Day will also serve to shed light on the challenges faced by cotton economies around the world because cotton is important to least developed, developing and developed economies worldwide.
• The World Cotton Day launch will give more than 30 countries exposure to producers, processors and businesses and more than 400 participants will be celebrating cotton in Geneva with thousand more around the world
• World Cotton Day will be celebrated in countries across the globe, with events giving exposure to farmers, processors, researchers and businesses and their contributions to the cotton value chain. These activities will be organised at the country level and livestreamed at the WTO headquarters.

Know! about cotton

• Cotton is a global commodity that is produced all over the world and a single tonne of cotton provides year-round employment for five people on average.
• Cotton is a drought - resistant crop ideal for arid climates, it occupies just 2.1 % of the world's arable land, yet it meets 27% of the world's textiles need. In addition to its fibre used in textiles and apparel, food products are also derived from cotton like edible oil and animal feed from the seed.

• The objective of observing October, 7 as World Cotton Day is to give exposure and recognition to cotton

The India pavilion at the World Cotton Day exhibition

• The CCI will be displaying various grades of raw cotton including SUVIN, the finest quality of Extra Long Staple Cotton produced in Tamil Nadu having the highest fibre length.
• Further, natural coloured cotton that is grown in Dharwad in the state of Karnataka in different colours like dark brown, medium brown, green and cream colours will also be on display. Being naturally coloured there is no need to use synthetic dyes which leads to less toxicity in the fabric when used.
• The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) will be displaying India's high quality cotton textiles at the exhibition.
• Fabrics which have been given Geographical Indication like Venkatagiri, Chanderi, Maheshwari and Ikkat sarees will be displayed along with many other traditional Indian textiles and organic cotton fabrics.

Cotton Technical Assistance Programme (Cotton TAP-I)

• Between 2011 and 2018, India implemented a Cotton Technical Assistance Programme (Cotton TAP-I) of about USD 2.85 million for seven African countries namely Benin, Burkina Faso, Mali and Chad and also Uganda, Malawi and Nigeria.
• The technical assistance focused on improving the competitiveness of the cotton and cotton-based textiles and apparel industry in these countries through a series of interventions which had significant outcomes leading to a demand for a follow on project.

Defence
Goa Maritime Conclave- 2019 Inaugurated
Relevance IN - Prelims (about Goa Maritime Conclave + about Indian Ocean littoral countries)
What's the NEWS

• The Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC)-2019 was inaugurated by the National Security Advisor, Shri Ajit Kumar Doval, at Goa conducted by the Naval War College
• The theme for the conclave is "Common Maritime Priorities in IOR and need for Regional Maritime Strategy".

Know! more about it

• The deliberations, which were held over three sessions during the day were focused on capacity building among IOR Navies to tackle emerging maritime threats, in addition to discussing cooperative strategies for enhancing interoperability among partner maritime agencies.
• On the side-lines of the conclave, various bilateral meetings were also held, between the Chiefs of Navies, to further build on the existing bonds of friendship and also discuss issues specific to both countries.
• The Chief of the Naval Staff and attended by Chiefs of Navies and senior representatives from 10 Indian Ocean littoral countries which included Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand from South East Asia, Bangladesh, Myanamar and Sri-Lanka from India's immediate neighbourhood and the islands of Seychelles, Maldives and Mauritius.

Bilateral Relations
India - Bangladesh Business forum meets in New Delhi
Relevance IN - Prelims (about India - Bangladesh relations and important agreements signed) + Mains ( GS III Bilateral relations + India and its neighborhood- relations.)
Know! the important takeaways of the visit

• Bangladesh Prime Minister informed that three Special Economic Zones have been set up in Bangladesh for Indian investors and hoped that this will broaden the export base of Bangladesh.
• On this occasion two Government to Business (G2B) MoUs were signed between Start up Bangladesh and Tech Mahindra and Bangladesh Economic Zones Authority and Adani Ports and SEZs.
• Bangladesh is India's biggest trade partner in South Asia. Bilateral trade between India and Bangladesh has grown steadily over the last decade.
• India's exports to Bangladesh for the financial year 2018-19 (April-March) stood at USD 9.21 billion and imports from Bangladesh for the same period stood at USD 1.22 billion.
• India and Bangladesh have trade agreement which is facilitative in nature. India and Bangladesh are members of various regional trade agreements including the Asia Pacific Trade Agreement (APTA), SAARC Preferential Trade Agreement (SAPTA) and the Agreement on South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) which govern the tariff regimes for trade.
• Under SAFTA, India has granted duty free quota free access to Bangladesh on all items except alcohol and tobacco.
• Four Border Haats, two each in Tripura (Srinagar and Kamalasagar) and Meghalaya (Kalaichar and Balat), have been established for the benefit of communities living along the border areas of both countries. Ten additional Border Haats on the India-Bangladesh border are under implementation.
• Cumulative Foreign Direct Investment from India to Bangladesh has more than doubled from USD 243.91 million in 2014 to USD 570.11 million in December 2018.
• Bangladesh is the biggest development partner of India today. India has extended 3 Lines of Credits (LOCs) to Bangladesh in the last 8 years amounting to USD 8 billion.
• In addition to LOCs, the Government of India has also been providing grant assistance to Bangladesh for various infrastructure projects such as the Agartala- Akhaura rail link, dredging of inland waterways, India Bangladesh Friendship Pipeline, and High Impact Community Development Projects (HICDPs) in the areas of education, health, water, culture, urban development, disaster management and community welfare.
  
  

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