PIB Analysis : 15th and 16th October

PIB Analysis for UPSC CSE

Topics Covered

1. Bluetongue sandwich ELISA (sELISA) and the Japanese Encephalitis lgM ELISA kit
2. ‘Dilli Series’ Sea Power Seminar
3. APJ Abdul Kalam
4. Sewa Service Trains
5. Maritime States Development Council
6. Services Exports Promotion Council (SEPC)
7. Livestock Census
8. ‘Food Safety Mitra (FSM)’ scheme, Eat Right Jacket and Eat Right Jhola

1 . Bluetongue sandwich ELISA (sELISA) and the Japanese Encephalitis lgM ELISA kit

Context : Two diagnostic kits developed by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) – Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI) under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, namely the Bluetongue sandwich ELISA (sELISA) and the Japanese Encephalitis lgM ELISA kit for the control of Swine and Detection of Antigen, were released

About Japanese Encephalitis (JE) ELISA Kit (IgM)

• JE is a re-emerging viral zoonotic disease leading to death of children every year in the country.
• The kit developed by the ICAR-Indian Veterinary Research Institute is really helpful for assessing the active infection of JE virus in the swine population which predicts the outbreak of JE in the humans.
• As compared to the commercial kit available in the market at a price of Rs. 52,000; the ICAR-IVRI developed is available for the farmers at a minimal price of Rs. 5,000 only.
• Each kit is meant for testing around 45 samples.

About Bluetongue Sandwich ELISA for detection of Antigen

• Bluetongue (BT) virus is an insect-transmitted viral disease of domestic and wild ruminants that includes the camelid species.
• The disease is widespread among the sheep, goats, cattle, buffaloes and camels in the country.
• With the help of the Kit, the Bluetongue Virus can be controlled with the vaccination of susceptible animals, vector control and quarantine of infected animals with the good management practices.
• Apart from the vaccination, the early diagnosis and isolation of the infected animals are one of the commonly suggested preventive methods for controlling the spreading of the disease.

2 . ‘Dilli Series’ Sea Power Seminar

About the Seminar

• Indian Naval Academy (INA), Ezhimala will host the the prestigious Dilli Series Sea Power Seminar
• The theme for this year’s seminar is “Role of Sea Power in Shaping of Nations”.
• The seminar will be covered under three sub – themes, Sea Power Vs Land Power – A Historical Perspective, Sea Power and Geo Economics and Centrality of Sea Power to Global Politics.
• The seminar, named after the historic Mount Dilli located within the INA, with considerable historical importance, has witnessed five earlier editions conducted to date.
• The annual Dilli seminar helps young officers and cadets to keep an eye on developments in the maritime domain whilst simultaneously laying a strong foundation of history.  

3 . Contributions of APJ Abdul Kalam

Significant Contributions made by Dr Kalam

• A scientist and teacher by profession, Kalam first made a mark in the country’s scientific feats by designing a small hovercraft at the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
• By 1965, he had begun working independently on an expandable rocket project. In the following years, he directed two projects named Project Devil and Project Valiant.
• During his tenure as the chief executive of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP), he played a significant role in developing India’s first missiles — Agni and Prithvi.
• His contribution towards the Pokhran-II nuclear tests is also noteworthy, as they were carried out while he was serving as the Chief Scientific Adviser to the Prime Minister.
• While moving on to his contributions to India’s missile programmes, which earned him the moniker “Missile Man of India”, one ought to mention that he was a part of the team of rocket engineers that set up the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS). It is still used by the Indian Space Research Organisation to launch sounding rockets.
• He was the project director of the country’s first Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-III) and played an important role in developing the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
• Former president believed that his greatest achievement in life was designing low-weight Ortho callipers for polio-affected kids. These callipers weighed 1/10th of the weight of those that were then available in the market and made movement much less painful for affected kids.
• He joined hands with cardiologist Dr Soma Raju and designed a cheaper variant of a coronary stent, that was named ‘Kalam-Raju Stent’ to honour them. The duo also engineered a basic tablet PC to be used for health care in the rural reaches.
• He served as President of India from 2002 to 2007

Books

• Dr Kalam has penned multiple books, such as Wings of Fire, Ignited Minds: Unleashing the Power Within India, and India 2020.

4 . Sewa Service Trains

About Sewa Service Trains

• Indian Railways launched 09 ‘Sewa Service’ Trains to connect smaller towns around major cities. 
• These trains will provide connectivity to the far-flung areas where stoppages of premiere trains was not possible. These trains will act as link trains to serve the common man of the country.
• These Sewa trains will be made with layover/ spare rakes as a part of ‘sweating of assets’ initiative by the Indian Railways. This was part of strategies of Indian Railways to have better utilization of the rolling stock without any requisition for new rolling stock.
• These trains will run on the “Hub and Spoke” Model, thereby facilitating passengers to use these trains to reach the “Hub” for availing onward journey to other major stations.

5 . Maritime States Development Council

About MSDC

• MSDC is an apex advisory body for the development of the Maritime sector and aims to ensure integrated development of Major and non-Major Ports..
• The MSDC was constituted in May, 1997 to assess in consultation with State Governments, the future development of existing and new Minor Ports by the respective Maritime States either directly or through captive users and private participation.
• MSDC also monitors the development of minor ports, captive ports and private ports in the Maritime States with a view to ensure their integrated development with Major Ports and to assess the requirements of other infrastructure requirements like roads/rail/IWT and make suitable recommendations to the concerned Ministers.
• Maritime States Development Council Meeting (MSDC) is usually held under the Chairmanship of Hon’ble Minister for Shipping

6 . Service Export Promotion Council

About SEPC

• SEPC is an Export Promotion Council set by Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.
• It is an apex trade body which facilitates service exporters of India.
• As an advisory body it actively contributes to the formulation of policies of Government of India and acts as an interface between the Services Industry and the Government.
• An Interface between the World & Indian service providers: SEPC is the nodal point for Indian Service exports as well as for foreign corporates who are looking for business opportunities in India under Mode -1, Mode -2, Mode -3 & Mode-4 of services trade.
• It is also the nodal point for individuals who want to avail benefits of better quality services at competitive rates in comparison with other countries. Foreign clients can contact SEPC for details of services providers in India.
• SEPC has been instrumental in promoting the efforts of Indian service exporting community, and in projecting India’s image abroad as a reliable supplier of high quality services. It organizes a large number of promotional activities such as buyer-seller meets (BSM) – both in India and abroad, overseas trade fairs/exhibitions, and India pavilion/information booths in selected overseas exhibitions to demonstrate the capabilities of Indian Services Industry.

7 . Livestock Census

Context : Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying releases 20th Livestock Census; Total Livestock population increases 4.6% over Census-2012, Increases to 535.78 million

About Livestock Census

• The Livestock Census has been conducted in the country periodically since 1919-20.
• The Livestock Census covers all domesticated animals and its headcounts.
• So far 19 such censuses have been conducted in participation with State Governments and UT Administrations.
• The 20th Livestock Census was conducted in participation with all States and Union Territories.
• The enumeration was done both in rural and urban areas. Various species of animals (Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun, Yak, Sheep, Goat, Pig, Horse, Pony, Mule, Donkey Camel, Dog, Rabbit and Elephant)/poultry birds (Fowl, Duck, Emu, Turkeys, Quail and other poultry birds) possessed by the households, household enterprises/non-household enterprises and institutions have been counted at their site.

Features of 20th Livestock Census

• The major thrust given to 20^th Livestock Census is the collection of data through tablets computers.
• The 20th livestock census is indeed a unique attempt as for the first time such a major initiative has been take to digitise household level data through online transmission from the field.  
• National Informatics Centre (NIC) has developed a mobile Application software and was used for data collection as well as online transmission of data from the field to the NIC server. 

Key results of the 20^th Livestock Census

• The total Livestock population is 535.78 million in the country showing an increase of 4.6% over Livestock Census-2012
• Total Bovine population (Cattle, Buffalo, Mithun and Yak) is 302.79 Million in 2019 which shows an increase of about 1% over the previous census.
• The total number of cattle in the country in 2019 is 192.49 million showing an increase of 0.8 % over previous Census.
• The Female Cattle (Cows population) is 145.12 million, increased by 18.0% over the previous census (2012).
• The Exotic/Crossbred and Indigenous/Non-descript Cattle population in the country is 50.42 million and 142.11 million respectively. 
• The Indigenous/Non-descript female cattle population has increased by 10% in 2019 as compared to previous census.
• The population of the total Exotic/Crossbred Cattle has increased by 26.9 % in 2019 as compared to previous census.
• There is a decline of 6 % in the total Indigenous/ Non-descript cattle population over the previous census. However, the pace of decline of Indigenous/ Non-descript cattle population during 2012-2019 is much lesser than as compared to the 2007-12 which was about 9%.
• The total buffaloes in the country is 109.85 million showing an increase of about 1.0% over previous Census.
• The total milch animals (in-milk and dry) in cows and buffaloes is 125.34 million, an increase of 6.0 % over the previous census.
• The total sheep in the country is 74.26 million in 2019, increased by 14.1% over previous Census.
• The Goat population in the country in 2019 is 148.88 million showing an increase of 10.1% over the previous census.
• The total Pigs in the country is 9.06 Million in the current Census, declined by 12.03% over the previous Census.
• The other livestock including mithun, yak, horses, ponies, mule, donkeys, camel together contribute around 0.23% of the total livestock and their total count is               1.24 million.
• The total poultry in the country is 851.81 million in 2019, registered an increase of 16.8% in the total poultry.
• The total birds in the backyard poultry in the country is 317.07 million. The backyard poultry has increased by around 46% as compared to previous Census.
• The total Commercial Poultry in the country is 534.74 million in 2019, increased by 4.5% over previous Census.

8 . ‘Food Safety Mitra (FSM)’ scheme 

Context : Dr Harsh Vardhan launches Food Safety Mitra (FSM) scheme for strengthening and scaling up ‘Eat Right India’ movement; Also launches ‘Eat Right Jacket’ and ‘Eat Right Jhola’ on World Food Day 2019

About Food Safety Mitra

• The ‘Food Safety Mitra (FSM)’ scheme will support small and medium scale food businesses to comply with the food safety laws and facilitate licensing and registration, hygiene ratings and training.
• Apart from strengthening food safety, this scheme would also create new employment opportunities for youth, particularly with food and nutrition background.
• The FSMs would undergo training and certification by FSSAI to do their work and get paid by food businesses for their services.

Eat Right Jacket

• The ‘Eat Right Jacket’ launched will be used by the field staff.
• This jacket has a smart design to hold tech devices like tablets/smart phone, a QR code and RFID tag for identification and tracking.
• Apart from providing safety to field staff on duty, this would bring in efficiency, professionalism and transparency in food safety administration and bring in a sense of ownership & visibility of FSOs.  

Eat Right Jhola

• The ‘Eat Right Jhola’, a reusable cloth bag shall replace plastic bags for grocery shopping in various retail chains.
• Since on repeated use, bags are often contaminated with microorganisms and bacteria, proper and regular washing of cloth bags is essential to ensure safety and hygiene.
• These cloth bags are being provided on rental basis through a private textile rental service company.