Relevance IN - Prelims (about SVAS,SSFS and ABIS + about NCOIS)
What's the NEWS

• The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has launched three new products for the benefit of fishermen, people living in coastal areas of South India

1. The Small Advisory and Forecast Services System (SVAS)
2. Swell Surge Forecast System (SSFS) and
3. Algal Bloom Information Service (ABIS)

• All three products are available for free and will help in significantly reducing damage and losses for the users concerned and for authorities to make contingency plans for reducing damage

• ‘SVAS' is for small vessels operating in Indian coastal waters warning about potential sites where vessel overturning can take place, 10 days in advance.
• Small vessels of beam width up to seven metres covering the entire range of beam widths of the fishing vessels used in all the nine coastal States and Union Territories can benefit from it.
• The warning system is based on ‘Boat Safety Index' (BSI) derived from wave model forecast outputs like wave height, steepness, directional spread and rapid development of wind at sea which is boat-specific.

• The ‘SSFS' has been designed for forecasting swell surges occurring in the west coast two-three days in advance as they generally catch the local people by surprise.
• Such events are intermittent throughout the year.
• ‘Kallakkadal' is a colloquial term used by Kerala fishermen to refer to the freaky flooding episodes
• During ‘Kallakkadals', the sea surges into the land and inundates vast areas.
• It is different from Tsunamis as two different kind of waves are involved.

• The ‘ABIS' is to help fishermen, fishery resource managers and ecologists get realtime information about the spread of phytoplankton blooms with details of species and size in North Eastern Arabian Sea, coastal waters off Kerala, Gulf of Mannar and coastal waters of Gopalpur.
• Harmful algal blooms are not only detrimental to coastal fisheries but tend to induce respiratory problems within the coastal population

• ESSO-INCOIS was established as an autonomous body in 1999 under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) and is a unit of the Earth System Science Organization (ESSO).
• ESSO- INCOIS is mandated to provide the best possible ocean information and advisory services to society, industry, government agencies and the scientific community through sustained ocean observations and constant improvement through systematic and focussed research

• Provides round-the-clock monitoring and warning services for the coastal population on tsunamis, storm surges, high waves, etc. through the in-house Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC).
• The Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO designated ITEWC as a Regional Tsunami Service Provider (RTSP) to provide tsunami warnings to countries on the Indian Ocean Rim.
• Provides daily advisories to fisher folk to help them easily locate areas of abundant fish in the ocean while saving on both fuel and time used to search for the same.

• ICoSDiTAUS-2020, the two-day International Conference on Standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies in Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha Systems of Medicine concluded in New Delhi today with adopting the "New Delhi Declaration on Collection and Classification of Traditional Medicine (TM) Diagnostic Data".

• ICoSDiTAUS-2020 is the biggest ever international event dedicated to standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies of Traditional Medicine in terms of the broad level of participation covering virtually all the continents.
• The conference succeeded in taking forward the objective of expanding the International Classification of Diseases(ICD) into the realm of Traditional Medicine systems at a conceptual level with all the countries endorsing the same.
• There was also a consensus that work on the second module of the Traditional Medicine Chapter of ICD should be expedited, and collaborative efforts of stake-holding countries are needed for this.
• The suitability of Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha systems for inclusion in the TM Chapter of ICD was also pointed out.
• The New Delhi declaration emphasised the commitment of the countries to Traditional Medicine as a significant area of health care.
• It further sought the opportunity for including traditional systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha in the International Classification of Diseases of WHO which is the standard diagnostic tool for health management across the world.

• National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has sanctioned an amount of 400.64 crore rupees to UT of J&K during the current financial year for giving boost to the infrastructure in the rural areas.
• The funding is a part of the NABARD's ‘Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) - Trench XXV' which aims at augmenting rural infrastructure.
• The Bank has sanctioned 209.87 crore rupees for construction of 82 rural roads and 03 bridges earlier this year.

• The RIDF was set up by the Government in 1995-96 for financing ongoing rural Infrastructure projects.
• The Fund is maintained by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
• Domestic commercial banks contribute to the Fund to the extent of their shortfall in stipulated priority sector lending to agriculture.
• The main objective of the Fund is to provide loans to State Governments and State-owned corporations to enable them to complete ongoing rural infrastructure projects.
• Subsequently, RIDF was made available for new rural infrastructure projects and its ambit was broadened to cover almost all important aspects of rural infrastructure.
• At present, there are 37 eligible activities under RIDF as approved by GoI. The eligible activities are classified under three broad categories i.e.
• Agriculture and related sector
• Social sector
• Rural connectivity

• NABARD was established on the recommendations of B.Sivaramman Committee, (by Act 61, 1981 of Parliament) on 12 July 1982 to implement the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development Act 1981.
• It replaced the Agricultural Credit Department (ACD) and Rural Planning and Credit Cell (RPCC) of Reserve Bank of India, and Agricultural Refinance and Development Corporation (ARDC).
• It is one of the premier agencies providing developmental credit in rural areas. NABARD is India's specialised bank for Agriculture and Rural Development in India.
• The Bank has been entrusted with "matters concerning Policy Planning and Operations in the field of credit for Agriculture and other Economic activities in Rural areas in India

• The government approved setting up of a National Technical Textiles Mission with a total outlay of ₹1,480 crore with a view to position the country as a global leader in technical textiles.
• The domestic market size of the technical textiles is expected to cross ₹2 lakh crore by the year 2020-21.
• The ₹1,480-crore Mission, to be implemented from 2020-2021 to 2023-2024, aims at positioning India as a global leader in technical textiles
• Budget 2020-21 proposes National Technical Textile Mission at ₹ 1,480-cr outlay

• The Mission will aim at average growth rate of 15-20% per annum taking the level of domestic market size to $40-50 billion by the year 2024 through market development, market promotion, international technical collaborations, investment promotions and ‘Make in India' initiatives
• It envisages export promotion of technical textiles, enhancing it from the current annual value of approximately ₹14,000 crore to ₹20,000 crore by 2021-22, and ensuring 10% average growth in exports per year up to 2023-24.
• An Export Promotion Council for Technical Textiles will be set up for effective coordination and promotion activities in the segment.
• The Mission will have four components including research, innovation and development with outlay of ₹1,000 crore; promotion and market development; export promotion; education, training and skill development.
• The Mission will promote technical education at higher engineering and technology levels related to technical textiles and its application areas covering engineering, medical, agriculture, aquaculture and dairy segments.

• Technical textiles are futuristic and niche segment of textiles, which are used for various applications ranging from agriculture, roads, railway tracks, sportswear, health on one end to bullet proof jacket, fire proof jackets, high altitude combat gear and space applications on the other end of spectrum.
• In India, the segment is estimated at $16 billion (about ₹1.14 lakh crore) which is approximately 6% of the $250 billion (about ₹17.75 lakh crore) global technical textiles market.
• The penetration level of technical textiles is low in India, varying between 5-10% against the level of 30-70% in developed countries.
• The Mission will focus on usage of technical textiles in various flagship missions, programmes of the country including strategic sectors.
• The Mission will move into sunset phase after four years period

What's the NEWS

• The Indian government announced it will hold RAISE 2020- ‘Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020' summit in New Delhi between April 11 and April 12.
• The RAISE 2020 summit will also host a "Startup Pitchfest."

Know! more about the summit

• The summit will be aimed at bringing together people to exchange ideas on the use of Artificial Intelligence for "social empowerment, inclusion and transformation" in industries such as education, smart mobility, agriculture, and healthcare among others.
• A data-rich environment like India has the potential to be the world's leading AI laboratory which can eventually transform lives globally.
• AI technology is a powerful tool that can be used to create a positive impact in the Indian context, further becoming the AI destination for the world

Startup Pitchfest

• During the summit, startups will have the opportunity to showcase their AI solutions aimed at the social transformation, inclusion and empowerment.
• Interested startups around the world can participate in the Pitchfest. The finalists will showcase their solutions at the summit and even get live feedback.

Polity
24^th Meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council
Relevance IN - Prelims (about Eastern Zonal Council and about Zonal Council)+ GS II Centre-State relations
What's the NEWS

• The 24^th meeting of the Eastern Zonal Council, comprising of the States of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal, is scheduled to be held on 28^th February, 2020 at Bhubaneswar.
• The Union Minister for Home Affairs, Shri Amit Shah will chair this meeting.
• Chief Minister of Odisha, Shri Naveen Patnaik, is the Vice-Chairman and host. Chief Ministers of Bihar, West Bengal and Jharkhand respectively, will also participate.

Know! about Zonal Councils

• Five Zonal Councils were set up in the year 1957 under Section 15-22 of the States Reorganization Act, 1956.
• The Union Home Minister is the Chairman of each of these 5 Zonal Councils and Chief Minister of the host State, to be chosen by rotation every year, is the Vice-Chairman.
• Two more Ministers from each State are nominated as Members by the Governor. The Council takes up issues involving Centre and States, and among Member-States falling in the Zone and thus provide a forum for resolving disputes and irritants between them.
• The Zonal Councils discuss broad range of issues, which include boundary related disputes, security, infrastructure related matters like road, transport, industries, water and power etc., matters pertaining to forests & environment, housing, education, food security, tourism, transport, etc.

Prelims Factoids
Offshore Patrol Vessel-6 "VAJRA" launched

Relevance IN - Prelims (about OPV-6 Vajra)
What's the NEWS

• The launching ceremony of 6^th Coast Guard Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV-6) 'VAJRA' held at Chennai
• 6^th OPV is getting launched in the sea which will strengthen the efforts Indian Coast Guard for securing over 7500 km vast coastline, an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of over 20 lakh sq kms and more than one lakh merchant ships transiting per year through Indian waters for global trade .

Know! more about OPV-6

• Manufactured indigenously by L&T Shipbuilding this OPV launched is the sixth in the series of seven OPV projects being built by M/s L&T Shipbuilding under the ‘Make in India' policy.
• OPV-6 is truly state of the art platform which will enhance the capabilities of Indian Coast Guard in terms of Operation, Surveillance, Search & Rescue.
• The ship would be utilized for day and night patrol/surveillance along with anti-terrorist/ anti-smuggling operations in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) as well as Coastal Security.
• The OPV will have two Navigation Radars with ultra-modern technology, Sophisticated navigational and latest communication systems.
• It is also capable of carrying a twin-engine helicopter, which will enhance its surveillance, search and rescue capability.
  
  

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