Relevance IN - Prelims (about Soyuz rocket + Russian space agency Roscosmos)
What's the NEWS

• A Russian Soyuz rocket blasted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carrying 38 foreign satellites after takeoff was twice postponed due to technical issues

• The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket with the Fregat upper stage and 38 spacecraft from 18 countries took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome
• The rocket will place in orbit 38 satellites from more than a dozen countries, including South Korea, Japan, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy and Brazil.
• Among them is the Challenge-1, the first satellite made completely in Tunisia, which was created by the Telnet telecommunications group.
• Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian space sector has lagged behind international competitors, plagued by corruption scandals and technological stagnation.
• In 2018, a Soyuz rocket carrying a Russian cosmonaut and a NASA astronaut failed mid-flight, forcing the crew to carry out an emergency landing. Both survived without injuries.

• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) informed the Lok Sabha that "presently, there is no proposal to implement Panchayat system in Sixth Schedule areas of Assam".

• The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution protects tribal populations and provides autonomy to the communities through creation of autonomous development councils that can frame laws on land, public health, agriculture and others.
• As of now, 10 autonomous councils exist in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram.
• The specified tribal areas are the North Cachar Hills, Karbi Anglong and the Bodoland Territorial Area in Assam, Khasi Hills, Jaintiya Hills and Garo Hills in Meghalaya, Tribal Areas in Tripura, Chakma, Mara and Lai districts in Mizoram.
• There is no Panchayat system in Sixth Schedule areas of Assam. Presently, there is no proposal to implement Panchayat system there.

• On January 23, 2019, the Union Cabinet had approved amendments to increase the financial and executive powers of the autonomous councils.
• The Constitution (125^th Amendment) Bill, 2019 was subsequently introduced amid din in the Rajya Sabha on February 6, 2019 that provides for elected village municipal councils.
• The Bill that is still active proposes that The State Election Commissions will hold elections to the autonomous councils, village and municipal councils.
• The Bill was introduced in the Upper House so that the legislation remains active even as the House was adjourned sine die before the 2019 general elections.
• The Bill would have lapsed if it was introduced in the Lok Sabha as its life would have been co-terminus with that of the Lower House.

• Non-profit group Oxfam India said India had scored low on labour rights performance, unemployment and inequality in wages in its Commitment to Reducing Inequality Index 2020, a day after Labour Minister told the Lok Sabha that the ranking and methodology lacked clarity.

• India being ranked 151 out of 158 countries in terms of workers' rights
• The methodology adopted in the index is in the public domain as is the basis of India's scoring.
• India has actually done reasonably well on two labour data points in the index: women's rights in the workplace and India's minimum wages. India also ranks 19^th in the world on the tax pillar of the index."
• With regard to the labour pillar in the index, India had scored low on labour rights performance, unemployment and inequality in wages.
• Data from the Centre for Global Workers' Rights at Penn State University and the International Labour Organisation was used.
• The inequality in wages is based on the Gini coefficient of labour income which is based on estimates of the distribution of labour income by decile, modelled by the ILO.
• As Oxfam India's inequality report highlighted, it would take an unskilled worker 10,000 years to make what India's richest man would have made in an hour during the pandemic."

• The Gini index, or Gini coefficient, is a measure of the distribution of income across a population developed by the Italian statistician Corrado Gini in 1912.
• It is often used as a gauge of economic inequality, measuring income distribution or, less commonly, wealth distribution among a population.
• The coefficient ranges from 0 (or 0%) to 1 (or 100%), with 0 representing perfect equality and 1 representing perfect inequality. Values over 1 are theoretically possible due to negative income or wealth.

• The one-horned rhino appears to have strayed into Assam's poll rhetoric.
• Assam has an estimated 2,640 rhinos in four protected areas. About 2,400 of them in the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve (KNPTR) have become an issue for 23.19 lakh voters, more specifically for more than 3 lakh voters across six Assembly constituencies that straddle the World Heritage Site.

• The Indian rhinoceros also called the Indian rhino, greater one-horned rhinoceros or great Indian rhinoceros, is a rhinoceros species native to the Indian subcontinent.
• It is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, as populations are fragmented and restricted to less than 20,000 km2
• The global population was estimated to comprise 3,588 individuals, including 2,939 individuals in India and 649 in Nepal.
• Kaziranga National Park alone had an estimated population of 2,048 rhinos in 2009.
• Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam has the highest density of Indian rhinos in the world with 84 individuals in an area of 38.80 km2 (14.98 sq mi) in 2009.
• The Indian rhinoceros once ranged throughout the entire stretch of the Indo-Gangetic Plain, but excessive hunting and agricultural development reduced its range drastically to 11 sites in northern India and southern Nepal.
• Nearly 85% of the global Indian rhinoceros population is concentrated in Assam, where Kaziranga National Park contains 70% of rhino population.

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about NAFED e-Kisan mandis (NeKM)
What's the NEWS

• NAFED e-Kisan mandis (NeKM) is electronic trading platform with physical infra-structure at each proposed location in partnership with local Farmer Producer Organisations (FPCx and Cooperatives) to be integrated with a National Level Digital Marketing Platform.

Know! more about it

• The mandi has both physical and virtual infrastructure and it is based on spoke & hub model.
• The physical infra-structure will include digital platform with auctioning facility, pack-house (including sorting-grading, packing and pre-cooling facilities), warehouse and cold storages if required.
• FPOs will get funding support through Agriculture Infra-structure Fund (AIF) and subsidies available under various Central and State Government schemes. The mandis are made at farm gate brining buyers to farmers.

One District One Product

Relevance IN - Prelims ( about One District One Product (ODOP)
What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) under Centrally Sponsored Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises Scheme (PM FME Scheme), provides financial, technical and business support for upgradation of existing micro food processing enterprises.

Know! about ODOP

• The scheme adopts One District One Product (ODOP) approach to reap the benefits of scale in terms of procurement of inputs, availing common services and marketing of products.
• ODOP for the scheme has framework for value chain development and alignment of support infrastructure.
• This scheme is being implemented for a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25 with an outlay of Rs. 10,000 crores.
• ODOP for 707 districts of 35 State/UTs have been approved by the MOFPI.
• The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare through One District One Focus Produce (ODOFP) for 728 districts of 36 States/UTs converge resources towards ODOP from ongoing centrally sponsored schemes such as Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture (MIDH), National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), schemes of Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
• State Level Up-gradation Plan (SLUP) by all States/UTs is based on Agriculture production of ODOPs, industrial scenario, market availability etc.
• It enables the States to identify its product clusters, market linkages, stakeholders, requirement of skill development for beneficiaries, infrastructure support, financial linkages etc.

Identifying district specific products would lead to the following benefits to the micro food processing entrepreneurs:

1. Increased access to credit by existing Micro Food Processing entrepreneurs, FPOs, Self Help Groups and Co-operatives;
2. Integration with organized supply chain by strengthening branding & marketing;
3. Increased access to common services like common processing facility, laboratories, storage, packaging, marketing and incubation services;
4. Strengthening of institutions, research and training in the food processing sector; and
5. Empowers SC, ST and Women Entrepreneurs as the scheme lays special focus on SC, ST and women entrepreneurs.

• The scheme envisages strengthening backward and forward linkages, provision of common facilities, incubation centres, training, research and development (R&D), marketing and branding.
• The enhanced capacity of processing and value addition in agriculture and allied sector products will lead to a better price realization for the farmers.
• The identified products have potential for both domestic demand and export and will be promoted in a cluster approach through the converged resources of the Government of India.

Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India
Relevance IN - Prelims ( about ringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI)
What's the NEWS

• Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India (BGREI), a sub scheme of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY), launched in 2010-11, is being implemented in seven eastern states namely Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Know! more about the programme

• Under the programme, assistance is being provided to the farmers for organizing cluster demonstrations on rice and wheat, seed production and distribution, nutrient management and soil ameliorants, integrated pest management, cropping system-based training, asset-building such as farm machineries & implements, irrigation devices, site specific activities and post harvest & marketing support, etc.
• Under the programme, Government of India allocates fund to the State and further allocation to district is made by the respective State Government.
• BGREI programme is intended to address the constraints limiting the productivity of "rice based cropping systems" in eastern India. Under these systems, the other crops like wheat, coarse-cum-nutri cereals, pulses & oilseeds are already covered.

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