Farm Sector
PM flags off 100^th Kisan Rail

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Kisan Rail) + Mains ( GS II government policies and interventions + GS III farmer's welfare + food processing industry
What's the NEWS

• The Prime Minister flagged off the 100^th Kisan Rail from Sangola in Maharashtra to Shalimar in West Bengal today via video conferencing.
• 100 Kisan Rails were launched in the last 4 months.
• No minimum quantity has been fixed to transport through Kisan Rail so that, even the smallest produce will be able to reach the big market properly at a low price.
• Farmers can now sell their crops in other states as well, in which farmers' rail (Kisan Rail) and agriculture flights (Krishi Udaan) have a big role.

Know! all about Kisan Rail

• It is a mobile cold storage to move perishable things like fruits, vegetables, milk, fish, etc., with complete security.
• This facility is available to the farmer as well as the local small businessman.
• Perishable rail cargo centres are being constructed in the vicinity of railway stations where farmers can store their produce.
• The effort is to supply as much fruits and vegetables as possible to the household.
• The first service of the "multi-commodity" Kisan Rail was launched on August 7
• The service was launched between Maharashtra's Devlali and Danapur in Bihar and was later expanded to Muzaffarpur in the eastern state following a good response.
• The 'Kisan Rail' is a weekly service that will help in transporting agricultural produce, especially perishable commodities, at cheaper rates and aid farmers in getting the right price for their crops.
• The weekly train will provide seamless connectivity among farmers, markets and consumers. All the required measures have been taken to safely transport perishable vegetables and fruits.
• Any farmer, or any other interested party, can directly book their consignments on this train without any lower limit on the size of the consignment.
• The consignment can be as small as 50-100 kgs, and can be booked from any stopping station to any other stopping station.
• Since its launch, the Kisan Rail service has transported 27,000 tonnes of agro-services. The Centre has also extended a subsidy of 50% on the transportation of fruits and vegetables.
• Kisan Rail trains shall be run with multi commodities, multi consignors as well as multi consignees.
• The Kisan Rail train service shall be operated between fixed Origin - Destination pairs with enroute halts, as well as loading and unloading shall be permitted at any of the enroute stoppages.
• The Origin - Destination pairs, halts, routes, and frequency of the Kisan Rail train shall be jointly decided by the Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare.

Government Schemes
National Jal Jeevan Mission Launches Innovation Challenge for Developing Portable Devices to Test Drinking Water Quality

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about National Jal Jeevan Mission + about the innovation challenge) + Mains (GS II government policies and interventions)
What's the NEWS

• The National Jal Jeevan Mission has launched an innovation challenge in partnership with Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade to develop portable devices for water testing.

Know! about the innovation challenge

• The main objective of the exercise is to bring an innovative, modular, and cost-effective solution to develop portable devices that can be used at the household level to test the drinking water quality instantly, easily and accurately.
• Water quality testing is one of the priority areas under Jal Jeevan Mission, the flagship programme of Union Government.
• The aim of the innovation challenge is to ensure that water sources are tested at various locations, at different levels; thereby, helping the policy framers to design programs which address the water contamination issues.
• Since announcement of the Jal Jeevan Mission, till 23rd December, 2020, so far 2.90 Crore households have been provided tap water connections
• People receiving piped water supply in their homes do not have any means to test the potability of water coming from their taps.
• The challenge aims to address these issues in an innovative, modular and cost-effective manner.
• Drinking water supply in rural areas is from both from groundwater (80%) and surface water (20%) sources.
• For both groundwater and surface waterbased rural drinking water supply systems, it is important to measure relevant area-specific contaminations to ensure access to potable water.
• The Uniform Drinking Water Quality Protocol, 2019 has specified some important parameters to be monitored for assuring portability of drinking water as per BIS IS 10500:2012 and subsequent amendments.

Jal Jeevan Mission

• Jal Jeevan Mission is under implementation in partnership with the States to enable every rural home to have tap water connection by 2024.
• The aim of the mission is to provide every rural household potable tap water in adequate quantity and of prescribed quality on a regular and long-term basis.
• The National Jal Jeevan Mission invites applicants to join the Innovation Challenge to develop portable devices for water testing and become a part of this life changing Jan Aandolan.

Governance
e-HRMS brochure on Good Governance Day launched

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

• The progress report of e-HRMS launched by the Union Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions
• The Electronic-Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS) launched by Dr. Jitendra Singh had 25 applications of 5 modules of the system.

Know! about Good governance

• Good governance is observed annually on December 25.
• The day aims to let the citizens, the students, who are the future of the country know about the government's responsibilities and duties that it needs to fulfill.
• The day is also celebrated to commemorate the birth anniversary of India's former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
• On December 23, 2014, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya (posthumously) were announced as recipients of India's highest civilian award, Bharat Ratna.
• Following the announcement, the government announced that the birth anniversary of the former Prime Minister would be treated as Good Governance Day. Since then the day is celebrated throughout the country every year on December 25.
• Good Governance Day acts as a reminder to the present government that it should be unbiased, transparent and development-oriented.

Miscellaneous
Indian Institute of Skills
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Indian Institute of Skills) + Mains ( GS II government policies and interventions)
What's the NEWS

• With the vision of propelling India to the forefront of skill development and job creation under Skill India Mission and to provide an impetus to Skill India programme through private sector participation, the first batch of trainings at the Tata-Indian Institute of Skills, Mumbai was launched

Indian Institute of Skills

• The institute is a joint initiative between Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), Government of India and Tata Indian Institute of Skills. Formal agreement for setting up institute has been signed between MSDE and TATA IIS on 11th November, 2020.
• The first batch at TATA-Indian Institute of Skills will commence training with two courses in Factory Automation, with duration ranging from1 to 4 weeks, depending upon the pre-qualification profile of the trainee.
• The institute envisages partnerships with multiple private organizations who are leaders in their respective fields, two of which are currently in place, with FESTO, a global leader in industrial automation and SMC Corporation, Japan, world's largest manufacturer of pneumatic components, for trainings.
• The primary goal behind setting up the institute is to create industry-ready workforce as per the evolving demands of the national and global markets.
• It aspires to be one of the most premier training institutions in the country and will be equipped with world-class vocational training facilities.
• The institute plans to provide trainings in highly specialized areas such as defense, oil & gas, aerospace, and other emerging businesses to meet industry demands.

Prelims Factoids
Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS)

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about Target Olympic Podium Scheme)
What's the NEWS

• The Government through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) has sanctioned a 40 day training camp for wrestler Vinesh Phogat along with her personal coach and her physiotherapist

Know! about TOPS - Objective of the Scheme

• The Target Olympic Podium Scheme is a flagship program of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which is an attempt to provide assistance to India's top athletes.
• The Scheme looks to add a premium to the preparations of these athletes so that they can win Olympic medals in 2020 and 2024 Olympics.
• Under the Scheme, the Department of Sports shall identify athletes who are potential medal winners in 2020 / 2024 Olympics.
• The idea of the Scheme is to also keep an eye in the future and fund a Developmental Group of Athletes who are medal prospects for the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024 and Los Angeles Games in 2028.

Miscellaneous
NITI Aayog launches DigiBoxx

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

• Homegrown data storage and management platform DigiBoxx has been launched by NITI Aayog and it will provide affordable services to both regular users as well as businesses.
• DigiBoxx is very affordable and a user can opt for a plan for as low as Rs 30 per month.

Know! all about DigiBoxx

• India now has its own cloud storage platform, DigiBoxx.
• A potential alternative to Google Drive, Dropbox, and Microsoft OneDrive, the indigenous cloud service is seen as a step that furthers the initiative of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat.'
• The homegrown data storage and management platform has been launched by NITI Aayog and it will provide affordable services to both regular users as well as businesses.
• All the data will be encrypted and stored in servers in India.
• The cloud storage platform is available on Android and iOS and can be accessed on computers through the web.
• The most interesting feature of the service DigiBoxx is that it allows users to share files even when they don't have a DigiBoxx account.
• The feature has been named InstaShare and allows users to share up to 2GB of content for free.
• All you need to have is your mobile number or email-ID. Once you upload your file, a link will be generated that can be used by the recipient to download the content.
• The data remains available on the link for 45 days post which it will be deleted and the link becomes invalid
• Users can search for their content using tags and can even edit it in real-time.
• DigiBoxx supports several popular file formats and gives users a filter option that will allow them to better organise their personal files.

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