• Apiary on Wheels', a unique concept designed by KVIC for the easy upkeep and migration of Bee Boxes having live Bee colonies, was flagged by the Union Minister of MSME Shri Nitin Gadkari

• Apiary on Wheels will make the migration easy, the maintenance easy, easy feeding of bees and it will also help the bees to sustain even in extreme summers.
• Apiary on wheels is a holistic approach to address the challenges faced by the beekeepers.
• It is designed so as to reduce the labour and cost of maintaining and upkeeping Bee Boxes and live bee colonies across India.
• Apiary on Wheels is a platform which can carry 20 Bee Boxes from one place to another without any difficulty.
• The Apiary on Wheels is also connected with a solar panel system which automatically triggers a fan inside the compartment as soon as the temperature reaches 35 degree centigrade or above.
• The Apiary on Wheels also has sugar drips which helps to feed the bees in the summer season.
• The Apiary on Wheels is like an attachment which can be easily connected with a Tractor or a Trolley and may be pulled to any suitable destination.
• As a pilot project the Apiary on Wheels will be placed near the mustard farms near the Delhi

• KVIC launched Honey Mission in 2017 and has been training beekeepers, distributing Bee Boxes and helping rural, educated but unemployed youth to earn extra income through beekeeping activities, at their doorstep.

What's the NEWS

• The Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah inaugurated the two-day BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) 'Conference on Combating Drug Trafficking'.
• Organised by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) the conference was attended by the delegations, coming from the Partner Nations including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and different State Governments of India

Steps taken by India and the benefits of hosting the conference

• India has adopted the zero tolerance policy follo against narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances trade
• Various steps have also been taken by India on national as well as international levels, including those at UN, INTERPOL, to combat this menace.
• The Home Ministry has established a joint coordination committee to increase surveillance over drug trafficking.
• The Ministry has also started an e-portal for digitalisation of drug data that may be utilized by various drug enforcement agencies.
• India taking the lead in organising this BIMSTEC conference would act as the harbinger of new avenues within the region that will help bringing other Nations on such similar platforms to find solutions to tackle drug trafficking.
• The Bay of Bengal littoral States as the focus of India's ‘Neighbourhood First' and ‘Act East' policies and India being the largest country in the region will not shy away from its responsibilities in fighting drug trafficking and terrorism.

Know! the need of such conference

• According to the UN's World Drug Report over 5% of the global population between 15-64 years of age is addicted to narcotics and use of illicit drugs.
• The rate of addiction is showing a fast increase i.e. a 30% rise in the last 10 years.
• An estimate of over $ 400 billion of yearly illicit drug trade happening globally, giving an idea of the size of the mammoth issue facing humanity.

Health Sector
Govt launches school health programme under Ayushman Bharat
Relevance IN - Prelims (about school health programme and its objective) +Mains ( GSII Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.)
What's the NEWS

• Government launched a School Health Programme under Ayushman Bharat-Health & Wellness Centres that will teach skills ranging from emotional wellbeing, mental health, interpersonal relationships to values and maintaining healthy lifestyle.

Know! more about the programme

• The first phase of implementation will be in all the public upper primary, secondary and senior secondary schools of aspirational districts.
• The program has been jointly rolled out by Ministries of Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development.
• It will strengthen the concept of preventive, promotive and positive health
• This initiative will be effectively linked with other government initiatives such as Fit India movement, Eat Right campaign, Poshan Abhiyaan for an all-round and holistic development model of health for the school children
• Health screening and provision of services are ongoing activities, the newly added health promotion and prevention component will be implemented by two teachers identified in every school as "Health and Wellness Ambassador".
• These ambassadors will be supported by class monitors as "Health and Wellness Messengers"
• A National Resource Group (NRG) of 40 members has already been constituted by NCERT to train the State Resource Group which will comprise of 2 persons
• Through this program, the children will also act as "Health and Wellness Ambassadors" and will disseminate key information by organising culturally sensitive activity based sessions for one hour per week for 24 weeks in a year to promote joyful learning.

The Fit India Movement (by the Ministry of Youth affairs and sports)

• It is a movement to take the nation on a path of fitness and wellness.
• It provides a unique and exciting opportunity to work towards a healthier India.
• As part of the movement, individuals and organisations can undertake various efforts for their own health and well-being as well as for the health and well-being of fellow Indians.

The Eat Right Movement

• To improve public health in India and combat negative nutritional trends to fight lifestyle diseases, FSSAI launched 'The Eat Right Movement
• 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.
• 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.

POSHAN Abhiyaan

• The Prime Minister's Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nutrition or POSHAN Abhiyaan or National Nutrition Mission, is Government of India's flagship programme to improve nutritional outcomes for children, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• NITI Aayog has played a critical role in shaping the POSHAN Abhiyaan.
• The National Nutrition Strategy, released by NITI Aayog in September, 2017 presented a micro analysis of the problems persisting within this area and chalked out an in-depth strategy for course correction.

Ayushman Bharat

• Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme, which will cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
• Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission will subsume the on-going centrally sponsored schemes - Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) and the Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS).

Prelims Factoids
Organic Food Festival for women entrepreneurs

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the organic food festival and its objective)
What's the NEWS

• An organic food festival for women entrepreneurs will be held during February 21-23 in the national capital as part of the government's effort to boost organic products and promote women entrepreneurship in the area of production and processing
• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) and Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) will jointly be organising the event.

Know! more about the fest

• This will be the first such event where over 150 women entrepreneurs and self help groups will be participating and in future will be showcased in different parts of the country
• It will feature organic produce, processed food, fabric, cosmetics, pesticides and fungicides among many products.
• The festival will strive to provide linkages to women producers to market and supply chain, thereby facilitating their financial inclusion.
• The festival aims to encourage Indian women entrepreneurs and farmers to connect with buyers and thus, empower them through financial inclusion, while also promoting organic food produce in India.
• Demand for Indian organic food products is on a constant increase with India annually exporting $ 515 million worth of produce according to Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA).
• As per the Indian organic sector -vision 2025 report, India's organic business has immense potential to reach Rs 75000 crore by 2025 from Rs 2700 crore in 2015.

Prelims Factoids
World Radio Day 2020

Relevance IN - Prelims (about World Radio Day and its objective)
What's the NEWS

• World Radio Day is celebrated on February 13 every year, to celebrate radio as a medium of entertainment and information and the mode of communication.
• The theme of this year's World Radio Day is 'Radio and Diversity'.
• The main object behind celebrating World Radio Day is to raise awareness among the public and the media of the importance of radio

Know! the genesis of World Radio Day

• In 2011, UNESCO's General Conference, at its 36th session, proclaimed February 13 as World Radio Day.
• The day February 13 was proposed by the Director-General of UNESCO because it coincides with the anniversary of the United Nations Radio, the UN's international broadcasting service was established on February 13, 1946.
• During its 67th Session, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on January 14, 2013, the United Nations General Assembly formally endorsed UNESCO's proclamation February 13 as World Radio Day.

National
The Union Cabinet had approved Pesticides Management Bill, 2020
Relevance IN - Prelims (about the pesticides management bill and its important highlights)
What's the NEWS

• The bill seeking to promote safe and effective pesticides will be introduced in the current session of Parliament
• The main objective of the Bill is to protect the interest of farmers and ensure they get safe and effective pesticides.
• The bill seeks to replace the existing Insecticide Act, 1968

Know! the highlights of the Bill

• Farmers would be empowered to get all information regarding the available pesticides, their strength, weaknesses, and risks from the dealers they choose to purchase the pesticide from
• Farmers will not get spurious pesticides
• Farmers will know about the strength and weakness of pesticides, the risk and alternatives and this will be an open data in digital format also.
• Farmers would essentially get these information from the dealers selling pesticides.
• The bill also intends to promote organic pesticides.
• All pesticide manufacturers have to be registered and bound by the new Act, once it is passed.
• If there is any loss because of the spurious or low quality of pesticides then there is a provision for compensations.

Know! the use of pesticides in India

• India is among the leading producers of pesticides in Asia. In the domestic market, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, and Haryana are among the states with the highest recorded consumption.
• There are 234 pesticides registered in India. Out of these, 4 are WHO Class IA pesticides, 15 are WHO Class IB pesticides and 76 are WHO Class II pesticides, together constituting 40% of the registered pesticides in India.
  
  

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