Cabinet Secretary chairs NCMC meeting

Context

A meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, Shri PK Sinha, was held to review the prevailing flood situation in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Gujarat.

About NCMC

A National Crisis Management Committee(NCMC) has been constituted in the Cabinet Secretariat.
Cabinet Secretary is the Chairman of the committee
When a situation is to be handled also by the NCMC, it will give such directions to the Crisis Management Group of the Ministry as deemed necessary.

Crisis Management Group

There shall be a Crisis Management Group (CMG) for dealing with matters relating to relief in the wake of major natural calamities.
Relief Commissioner is the Chairman of the group.
The Resident Commissioners of the States affected by major natural calamity may be coopted on the CMG during the period of crisis.
The CMG will meet atleast twice in a year in the months of December/January and May/June and as often as may be required by the Relief Commissioner.
The CMG will:
- Review every year Contingency Plans formulated by the Central Ministries/Departments;
- Review the measures required for dealing with a natural calamity
- Coordinate the activities of the Central Ministries and the State Governments in relation to disaster preparedness and relief, and
- Obtain information from the Nodal Officers on measures relating to the above.

‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ Drive

Context

Union HRD Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ will launch ‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ drive to create awareness about Water Conservation among all school students in the country.

About the drive

It is a time bound campaign with a mission mode approach.
This concept of water conservation is essential for students so that they can understand the importance of water and how it is shaping their lives meaningfully, thereby enabling them to participate in water conservation activities in their day to day lives.
MHRD has launched the ‘Samagra Shiksha-Jal Suraksha’ drive to promote water conservation activities for School Students, so that they can become competent, conscientious and committed water citizens of our nation.

Five Major Objectives:

To educate students learn about conservation of water
To sensitize Students about the impact of scarcity of water
To empower Students to learn to protect the natural sources of water
To help every Student to save at least one litre of water per day
To encourage Students towards judicious use and minimum wastage of water at home and school level

Context

World Biofuel Day is observed every year on 10th of August to create awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels and highlight the various efforts made by Government in the biofuel sector.

Negative impact of UCO

In India, the same cooking oil is used for repeated frying which adversely affects the health due to formation of polar compounds during frying. These polar compounds are associated with diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, liver diseases among others.
UCO is either not discarded at all or disposed off in an environmentally hazardous manner choking drains and sewerage systems.

Steps taken by Government

The National Policy on Biofuels, released by the Government of India in 2018, envisages production of biofuel from UCO.
Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is implementing a strategy to divert UCO from the food value chain and curb current illegal usage.
To facilitate the production of Biodiesel from UCO, the Oil Marketing Companies shall float an Expression of Interest (EOI) for procurement of Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil across 100 cities.
The purpose of inviting this EOI is to encourage the applicants to set up Biodiesel producing plants from Used Cooking Oil (UCO), processing plants and further utilizing the existing potential of UCO based Bio-diesel in India.

Significance

This year the theme of the World Biofuel Day is “Production of Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil (UCO)”.
Biofuels have the benefits of reduction of import dependence, cleaner environment, additional income to farmers and employment generation.
Biofuel programme also compliments Government of India’s initiatives for Make in India, Swachh Bharat and increasing farmers income. A number of initiatives have been undertaken to increase production and blending of biofuels since 2014.
The benefits of transformation of UCO will help bring health benefits as there would be no recycling of the UCO, employment generation, infrastructural investment in rural areas & cleaner environment with reduced carbon footprint.

Context

The NITI Aayog will launch the Fourth Edition of Women Transforming India (WTI) Awards in the capital.

About Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP)

NITI Aayog has launched a Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) for providing an ecosystem for budding & existing women entrepreneurs across the country. SIDBI has partnered with NITI Aayog to assist in this initiative.
As an enabling platform, WEP is built on three pillars- Iccha Shakti, Gyaan Shakti & Karma Shakti
- Iccha Shakti represents motivating aspiring entrepreneurs to start their business
- Gyaan Shakti represents providing knowledge and ecosystem support to women entrepreneurs to help them foster entrepreneurship
- Karma Shakti represents providing hands-on support to entrepreneurs in setting-up and scaling up businesses.

Benefits & Highlights

In addition to providing services such as free credit ratings, mentorship, funding support to women entrepreneurs, apprenticeship and corporate partnerships.
WEP will encourage entrepreneurs to share their entrepreneurial journeys, stories & experiences to nurture mutual learning.
WEP platform, as a driver of change, will also promote offline initiatives and outreach programmes to promote entrepreneurial spirit among potential women entrepreneurs, in collaboration with partner organizations.
Also, WEP offers incubation and acceleration support to women founded / co-founded startups through its various partners who handhold women entrepreneurs registered with WEP and provide them necessary support to help them start and scale-up.

Eligibility

Women Entrepreneurs who are at ideation stage, have just started off with thieir startups or are an established startup can register under the scheme to take the benefit.
Corporates, NGOs, research organisations, Incubator, Accelerator, etc. who can provide support in any form to the the women entrepreneurs.

Related Links:

Disaster Management in India	Focus on Biofuel – RSTV: In Depth
National Disaster Management Authority	NITI Aayog

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