Relevance IN - Prelims (about the award)+ Mains (GS II Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures
What's the NEWS

• The Election Commission of India has been awarded ‘Silver' for Excellence in Government Process re-engineering for digital transformation for the year 2019-20.

• The award seeks to recognize the projects that involved analysis and re-design of workflow and which resulted in improvement in outcomes related to efficiency, effectiveness of process, cost, quality, service delivery or a combination of these.
• The award was presented during the 23^rd National Conference on e-Governance February 7-8, 2020 at Mumbai by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India.
• ERONET standardised forms processing, standard database schema, and a standard template for enrol printing.
• It automates the process of electoral roll management starting from elector registration, field verification of electors, decision support system for Electoral registration officers and for providing extensive integrated value-added services.
• ERONET is a common database for all States and UTs with data of 91 crore electors. It provides bedrock of electoral roll in providing various web services to Conduct of Elections applications of Election Commission of India.

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the agreement and its objective) + Mains ( GS II Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation)
What's the NEWS

• The Government of India and the World Bank today signed a $450 million loan agreement to support the national programme to arrest the country's depleting groundwater levels and strengthen groundwater institutions.

Know! more about the agreement

• The World Bank-supported Atal Bhujal Yojana (ABHY) - National Groundwater Management Improvement Programme will be implemented in the states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh and cover 78 districts.
• These states span both the hard rock aquifers of peninsular India and the alluvial aquifers of the Indo-Gangetic plains.
• India groundwater is an important source for rural and urban domestic water supplies and its depletion is a cause of concern.
• The Atal Bhujal Yojana intends to strengthen the institutional framework for participatory groundwater management and encourage behavioral changes at the community level for sustainable groundwater resource management.
• The use of cutting-edge technology, involving Artificial Intelligence and space technology will further help in better implementation of the programme.

Know! the status of groundwater

• Groundwater currently provides approximately 60 percent of irrigation water. Over 80 percent of the rural and urban domestic water supplies in India are served by groundwater making India the world's largest user of groundwater.
• If the current trends persist, 60 percent of districts are likely to reach critical level of groundwater depletion within two decades, which in turn will render at least 25 percent of the agriculture production at risk. Climate change will likely exacerbate current pressures on groundwater resources.
• The programme will introduce a bottom-up planning process for community-driven development of water budgets and Water Security Plans (WSPs).

Environment Conservation
Rollout of BS-VI on 1^st April 2020
Relevance IN - Prelims (about BS-VI)
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas reviewed the preparations and instructed officials to accelerate the efforts, in wake of the planned country-wide rollout of BS-VI on 1^st April 2020.
• BS-VI, which is comparable with CNG in terms of providing clean energy, is expected to bring down sulphur level by 5 times from the BS-IV levels.
• This will go a long way in mitigating the problem of air pollution and improving air quality.
  
  

Agriculture
Finance Commission constitutes High Level Expert Group on Agriculture Exports

Relevance IN - Prelims (about the objective of the high level expert group)
What's the NEWS

• The Fifteenth Finance Commission has decided to constitute a High Level Expert Group on Agriculture Exports in pursuance of its ToR i.e, to recommend measurable performance incentives for States to encourage agri exports as well as to promote crops to enable high import substitution.

The Terms of Reference of the Committee are

• To assess export & import substitution opportunities for Indian agricultural products in the changing international trade scenario and suggest ways to step up exports sustainably and reduce import dependence.
• To recommend strategies and measures to increase farm productivity, enable higher value addition, ensure waste reduction, strengthen logistics infrastructure etc. related to Indian agriculture, to improve the sector's global competitiveness.
• To identify the impediments for private sector investments along the agricultural value chain and suggest policy measures and reforms that would help attract the required investments.
• To suggest appropriate performance-based incentives to the state governments for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26, to accelerate reforms in the agriculture sector as well as implement other policy measures in this regard.

Prelims Factoids
KALA KUMBH - Handicrafts Exhibitions for promotion of GI Crafts

Relevance IN - Prelims (about KALA KUMBH and its objective)
What's the NEWS

• With an objective to promote Geographical Indication (GI) crafts and heritage of India the Ministry of Textiles is organising Kala Kumbh - Handicrafts Thematic Exhibition in various parts of the country

Know! more about the exhibition

• The exhibitions are planned in various major cities and it is sponsored by Export Promotion Council for Handicrafts (EPCH)
• The GI tag is used on handicrafts which correspond to a specific geographical location or origin (e.g., a town, region, or country).
• As on August 2019, 178 GI handicraft products were registered from all over India.
• During the 10 day exhibitions, the visitors will be able to see a wide variety of handicrafts with their friends and family and by buying these handicrafts they can directly contribute in the improvement of the livelihood of these artisans and also create awareness of the rich heritage of the country.

Agriculture
4^th National Conference on Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana inaugurated

Relevance IN - Prelims (about PMFBY)
What's the NEWS

• The two-day long 4^th National Conference on Review of Implementation of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) began in Udaipur, Rajasthan.
• The conference which saw participation of around 140 members representing different states, banks, insurance companies, RBI, NABARD, among others.
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare had previously organised first three editions of the National Conference in Lucknow, Bangalore, and Guwahati respectively.

Know! more about PMFBY

• The new Crop Insurance Scheme is in line with One Nation - One Scheme theme.
• The PMFBY will replace the existing two schemes National Agricultural Insurance Scheme as well as the Modified NAIS.

Objectives

• To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases.
• To stabilise the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
• To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
• To ensure flow of credit to the agriculture sector.

Highlights of the scheme

• There will be a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops.
• In case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by farmers will be only 5%.
• The premium rates to be paid by farmers are very low and balance premium will be paid by the Government to provide full insured amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities.
• There is no upper limit on Government subsidy. Even if balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the Government.
  
  

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