PIB ANALYSIS FOR UPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAM
Topics Covered
- Network for Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific(NEDAC)
- Bureau of Indian Standards
- Mega Food Park
- Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA)
- Swadesh Darshan Scheme
- E – governance application for monitoring Namami Gange Programme
- Himalayan State Regional Council
1 . Network for Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific(NEDAC)
Network for Development of Agricultural Cooperatives in Asia and the Pacific (NEDAC) sets agenda for Cooperatives to cooperatives trade
About NEDAC
- NEDAC was set up in 1991 by the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
- NEDAC sensitises Governments in the region on the role of agricultural cooperatives in promoting agricultural and rural development to ensure rural food and livelihood security for millions of people in Asia and Pacific.
2 . Bureau of Indian Standards
Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan inaugurates seminar on ‘International Standards and the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ organised by Bureau of Indian Standards to celebrate World Standards Day 2018
About Bureau of Indian Standards
- BIS is the National Standard Body of India established under the BIS Act 1986 for the harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
- BIS has been providing traceability and tangibility benefits to the national economy in a number of ways – providing safe reliable quality goods; minimizing health hazards to consumers; promoting exports and imports substitute; control over proliferation of varieties etc. through standardization, certification and testing.
About International Standards
- International standards are standards developed by international standards organizations.
- International standards are available for consideration and use worldwide
- International Standards make things work. They give world-class specifications for products, services and systems, to ensure quality, safety and efficiency. They are instrumental in facilitating international trade.
- The most prominent organization is the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
- ISO has published 22406 International Standards and related documents, covering almost every industry, from technology, to food safety, to agriculture and healthcare. ISO International Standards impact everyone, everywhere.
3 . Mega Food Park
What is Mega Food Park
- Ministry of Food Processing Industries is focussed on boosting the food processing industry in India so that agriculture sector grows exponentially and becomes a major contributor to doubling the farmers’ income and to contribute to ‘Make In India’ initiative of the government.
- Aimed at giving a major boost to the food processing sector by adding value and reducing food wastage at each stage of the supply chain with particular focus on perishables, Ministry of Food Processing Industries is implementing Mega Food Park Scheme in the country.
- The Scheme of Mega Food Park aims at providing a mechanism to link agricultural production to the market by bringing together farmers, processors and retailers so as to ensure maximizing value addition, minimizing wastage, increasing farmers income and creating employment opportunities particularly in rural sector
- Mega Food Parks create modern infrastructure facilities for food processing along the value chain from farm to market with strong forward and backward linkages through a cluster based approach.in.
- Mega food park typically consist of supply chain infrastructure including collection centers, primary processing centers, central processing centers, cold chain and around 30-35 fully developed plots for entrepreneurs to set up food processing units.
- Under the Scheme, Government of India provides financial assistance upto Rs. 50.00 Crore per Mega Food Park project.
- The Mega Food Park project is implemented by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) which is a Body Corporate registered under the Companies Act. State Government, State Government entities and Cooperatives are not required to form a separate SPV for implementation of Mega Food Park project. Subject to fulfillment of the conditions of the Scheme Guidelines, the funds are released to the SPVs.
4 . Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA)
- The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA) is an Act passed by the Indian Parliament. The RERA seeks to protect the interests of home buyers and also boost investments in the real estate sector.
- The Bill regulates transactions between buyers and promoters of residential real estate projects. It establishes state level regulatory authorities called Real Estate Regulatory Authorities (RERAs).
- Residential real estate projects, with some exceptions, need to be registered with RERAs. Promoters cannot book or offer these projects for sale without registering them. Real estate agents dealing in these projects also need to register with RERAs.
- On registration, the promoter must upload details of the project on the website of the RERA. These include the site and layout plan, and schedule for completion of the real estate project.
- 70% of the amount collected from buyers for a project must be maintained in a separate bank account and must only be used for construction of that project. The state government can alter this amount to less than 70%.
- The Bill establishes state level tribunals called Real Estate Appellate Tribunals. Decisions of RERAs can be appealed in these tribunals.
5 . Swadesh Darshan Scheme
- Swadesh Darshan scheme is one of the flagship schemes of the Ministry of tourism for development of thematic circuits in the country in a planned and prioritised manner.
- Under this scheme the Government is focussing on development of quality infrastructure in the country with objective of providing better experience and facilities to the visitors on one hand and on other hand fostering the economic growth.
- The scheme was launched in 2014 -15 and as on date the Ministry has sanctioned 73 projects worth projects for Rs. 5873.99 Crore to 30 States and UTs. 30
6 . E – governance application for monitoring Namami Gange Programme
NMCG brainstorms on G-governance of Namami Gange programme through Geospatial technology
Develops Bhuvan Ganga geo-portal and Bhuvan Ganga Mobile App in collaboration with ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre
Survey of India uses drones to capture 360 degree view of Kumbh Mela area to identify pollution sources
- Geographical Information System (GIS) technology is widely used in river basin management.
- The Namami Gange programme has high priority for research and evidence based decision making, and has special place for the use of new technology including Geospatial technology. NMCG is already executing a number of research projects based on Geospatial technology.
- Bhuvan Ganga Geoportal is available for water quality monitoring, hydrological monitoring, geomorphological monitoring, bio-resources monitoring, and comprehensive geospatial database.
- Bhuvan Ganga mobile application is a user-friendly application to enable user/public to collect and report information on various pollution sources that affect water quality of River Ganga. The mobile application has provision to collect information regarding urban sewage, semi-urban/rural sewage, natural drains/nallas, industrial waste water, solid waste disposal or any other pollution source.
- Reconstructing the Ganga of the Past from Corona archival imagery’ Deliverables of Corona project would be to make all processed Corona images available for upload on public portal such as Bhuvan, develop an Atlas of the Ganga River showing a comparison between 1960s and the present, establish the reference condition of the Ganga river and quantify the changes in morphological characteristics and land-use/land-cover within the Ganga valley between 1960s and present, propose a policy document on ‘desirable’ land-use within the Ganga valley, capacity building for Corona image processing through training workshops including development of a working manual. IT is an IIT Kanpur Project
- ‘Generation of Digital Elevation Model/ Digital Terrain Model using suitable sensors on airborne platform for a corridor along the main stem of River Ganga
7 . Himalayan State Regional Council
NITI Aayog Constitutes Himalayan State Regional Council
- NITI Aayog has constituted the ‘Himalayan State Regional Council’ to ensure sustainable development of the Indian Himalayan region.
- The Council has been constituted to review and implement identified action points based on the Reports of five Working Groups, which were established along thematic areas to prepare a roadmap for action.
- The Himalayan States Regional Council will be the nodal agency for the Sustainable development in the Himalayan Region which consists of the twelve States namely Jammu &Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, two districts of Assam namely Dima Hasao and Karbi Anglong and Darjeeling and Kalimpong in West Bengal.
- The terms of reference of the Council states that it shall monitor the implementation of action points for Central Ministries, Institutions and 12 Himalayan State Governments in Indian Himalayan Region which include river basin development and regional cooperation, spring mapping and revival across Himalayas in phased manner for water security; develop, implement and monitor tourism sector standards as well as bring policy coherence, strengthen skill & entrepreneurship with focus on identified priority sectors, among other action points.