Connect to the past ( current capsules 23^rd June)
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Decarbonising Transport in India project + about ITF + about DTEE) + Mains ( GS III Environment conservation + GS II international organisations + government policies and interventions)
What's the NEWS

• NITI Aayog and the International Transport Forum (ITF) of OECD jointly launched the ‘Decarbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies' (DTEE) project in India on 24June.

• The ambitious five-year project will help India develop a pathway towards a low-carbon transport system through the development of modelling tools and policy scenarios.
• Decarbonization of the transport sector would create a cleaner, healthier and more affordable future for everyone.
• The DTEE project would help India translate its climate ambitions into actions.
• Building on this evidence-based assessment of mitigation impacts, bringing DTEE and NDC-TIA together under this collaboration would support policymaking by identifying various scenarios to achieve Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) targets submitted by India under the Paris Agreement.
• The India project is carried out in the wider context of the International Transport Forum's Decarbonizing Transport initiative.
• It is part of the Decarbonizing Transport in Emerging Economies family of projects, which supports transport decarbonization across different world regions. India, Argentina, Azerbaijan and Morocco are current participants.
• DTEE is a collaboration between the ITF and the Wuppertal Institute, supported by the International Climate Initiative of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety.

• The transport sector of India is the third most greenhouse gas (GHG) emitting sector, where the major contribution comes from the road transport sector.
• Out of the total carbon dioxide emissions in India, 13% come from the transport sector. These emissions have more than tripled since 1990.
• In India, CO₂ emitted per inhabitant was just about a twentieth of that of an average OECD country, yet, India's transport CO₂ emissions are likely to increase by almost 6% annually to 2030.

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about skills build reignite + about DGT +bharat skill learning platform) + Mains ( GS II Social issues + Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of heir design and implementation

What's the NEWS

• IBM has committed to provide multifaceted digital skill training in the area of Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to students & trainers across the nation in the National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs) and Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).
• It is a partnership between DGT and IBM India with some unique and first of a kind program.

• DGT under the aegis of the Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), is responsible for implementing long term institutional training to the nation's youth through its network of training institutes and infrastructure.
• It plays a key role in the execution of vocational training schemes and in making ‘Digital India' dream become a reality.
• Creating opportunities for Young India with focus on new-age skills like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, 3D - Technology, Cloud Computing, Cyber Security, etc. which are aligned to Industry 4.0 requirements, has become the prime focus for DGT.

• DGT is lining up with the industry partners enabling e-learning with a combination of multimedia and similar digital resources for the students/ trainees, trainers and the administrators, by providing anytime, anywhere online digital content through its BharatSkills learning platform (https://bharatskills.gov.in).

• The SkillsBuild Reignite tends to provide job seekers and entrepreneurs, with access to free online coursework and mentoring support designed to help them reinvent their careers and businesses.
• Job seekers, individual business owners, entrepreneurs and any individual with learning aspirations can now tap into host of industry relevant content on topics including Artificial intelligence, Cloud, Data analytics and security to reskill and upskill themselves, at no cost.
• Its special feature is the personalized coaching for entrepreneurs, seeking advice to help establish or restart their small businesses as they begin to focus on recovery to emerge out of the COVID 19 pandemic.

• It is a 10 week program which supports 100 hours of structured learning to learners who are interested in gaining hands-on project experience to enhance learning and are intent on building their network and enhance their employability.
• The SkillsBuild Innovation Camp concludes with a pitch to facilitators, other teams, stakeholders and potential employers or investors.

• In November 2019, IBM India, in partnership with Directorate General of Training (DGT), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Government of India, and its implementation partners, made the SkillsBuild online learning platform available to Indian students through Bharatskills (https://bharatskills.gov.in) of DGT.

• Bharat Skills is a e-learning portal of the Directorate General of Training (DGT), Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship.
• Bharat Skills is a Central Repository for skills which provides NSQF curriculum, course material, videos, question banks and mock test etc. for ITI/NSTI Students and Teachers.

• Japan's Fugaku supercomputer claimed the top spot , carrying out 2.8 times more calculations per second than an IBM machine in the US.
• The US machine, called Summit, came top of the bi-annual Top500 list the previous four times.

• Fugaku's victory broke a long run of US-China dominance, returning Japan to the top for the first time in 11 years.
• The room-sized machine lives in the city of Kobe and was developed over six years by Japanese technology firm Fujitsu and the government-backed Riken Institute. Its name is another way of saying Mount Fuji.
• Its performance was measured at 415.53 petaflops, 2.8 times faster than second-place Summit's 148.6 petaflops.
• Third place in the list went to another IBM system, at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, while the fourth and fifth places were taken by computers in China.
• A supercomputer is classified by being more than 1,000 times faster than a regular computer.

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about AHIDF + about DIDF ) + Mains ( GS III Inclusive growth and issues arising from it + economics of animal-rearing.
What's the NEWS

• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, has approved setting up of Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) worth Rs. 15000 crore with an interest subsidy scheme to promote investment by private players and MSMEs in dairy, meat processing and animal feed plants, a move which is expected to create 35 lakh jobs.
• The fund is part of the Rs 20 lakh crore stimulus package announced in May to help people affected by the lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Know! about AHIDF

• AHIDF would facilitate much needed incentivisation of investments in establishment of such infrastructure for dairy and meat processing and value addition infrastructure and establishment of animal feed plant in the private sector.
• The eligible beneficiaries under the Scheme would be Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), MSMEs, Section 8 Companies, Private Companies and individual entrepreneur with minimum 10% margin money contribution by them.
• The balance 90% would be the loan component to be made available by scheduled banks.
• Government of India will provide 3% interest subvention to eligible beneficiaries.
• There will be 2 years moratorium period for principal loan amount and 6 years repayment period thereafter.
• Government of India would also set up Credit Guarantee Fund of Rs. 750 crore to be managed by NABARD. Credit guarantee would be provided to those sanctioned projects which are covered under MSME defined ceilings. Guarantee Coverage would be upto 25% of Credit facility of borrower.
• The government had earlier approved the Dairy Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) worth Rs 10,000 crore for incentivizing investment by the cooperative sector for development of dairy infrastructure.

Know! about DIDF

• Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund under NABARD over a period of 3 years (i.e. 2017-18 to 2019-20),was announced in the Union Budget of 2017-18.
• Funding will be in the form of interest bearing loan, which will flow from National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) / National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC) and in turn to eligible End Borrowers such as Milk Unions, State Dairy Federations, Multi-state Milk Cooperatives, Milk Producer Companies etc
• The scheme will be implemented across the country.

Objectives of the scheme

• To modernize the milk processing plants and machinery and to create additional infrastructure for processing more milk.
• To create additional milk processing capacity for increased value addition by producing more dairy products.
• To bring efficiency in dairy processing plants/producer owned and controlled dairy institutions, thereby enabling optimum value of milk to milk producer farmers and supply of quality milk to consumers.
• To help the producer owned and controlled institutions to increase their share of milk, thereby providing greater opportunities of ownership, management and market access to rural milk producers in the organized milk market.
• To help the producer owned and controlled institutions to consolidate their position as dominant player in the organised liquid milk market and to make increased price realisation to milk producers.

Economy/Government Schemes
Credit Guarantee Scheme for Sub-ordinate Debt (CGSSD) or Distressed Assets Fund-Sub-ordinate Debt for MSMEs
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about CGSSD + CGTMSE) + Mains ( GS III Indian Economy + Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
What's the NEWS

• Minister of MSME, Nitin Gadkari launched the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Sub-ordinate Debt (CGSSD) which is also called "Distressed Assets Fund-Sub-ordinate Debt for MSMEs".
• As per the Scheme, the guarantee cover worth Rs. 20,000 crores will be provided to the promoters who can take debt from the banks to further invest in their stressed MSMEs as equity.
• As part of Atmanirbhar Bharat package, this scheme of sub-ordinate Debt to the promoters of operational but stressed MSMEs was announced

The highlights of the scheme are:

• This Scheme seeks to extend support to the promoter(s) of the operational MSMEs which are stressed and have become NPA as on 30th April, 2020;
• Promoter(s) of the MSMEs will be given credit equal to 15% of their stake (equity plus debt) or Rs. 75 lakh whichever is lower;
• Promoter(s) in turn will infuse this amount in the MSME unit as equity and thereby enhance the liquidity and maintain debt-equity ratio;
• 90% guarantee coverage for this sub-debt will be given under the Scheme and 10% would come from the concerned promoters;
• There will be a moratorium of 7 years on payment of principal whereas maximum tenor for repayment will be 10 years.

The scheme will be operationalised through Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for MSEs (CGTMSE).
Know! about CGTMSE

• Government of India and SIDBI set up the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE).
• Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME), Government of India launched Credit Guarantee Scheme (CGS) so as to strengthen credit delivery system and facilitate flow of credit to the MSE sector.
• To operationalise the scheme, Government of India and SIDBI set up the Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) to make collateral-free credit to the micro and small enterprise sector.
• Both the existing and the new enterprises are eligible to be covered under the scheme.
• The corpus of CGTMSE is being contributed by the GoI and SIDBI in the ratio of 4:1 respectively.
• The Ministry of MSMEs, GoI and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) established a trust named Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) to implement the CGS.
  
  

KEEP Learning KEEP Evolving
TEAM CL IAS