02 Feb 2022: PIB Summary for UPSC

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. API Manufacturers
2. Sahkar Se Samriddhi
3. ‘Vagir’: The Fifth Scorpene Submarine
4. One Nation One Ration Card
5. Millets in Mid-day Meal Scheme
6. World Wetlands Day
7. Saffron Bowl Project

1. API Manufacturers

Syllabus: GS III, Indian Economy and issues relating to growth and development

Prelims: API, PLI

Mains: India’s progress in the manufacturing of API

Context: The government decided to take attentive steps to bolster the manufacturing of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) along with an increase in investments in the pharmaceutical sector.

Government Initiatives:

• The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme has been approved by the Union Cabinet to boost the domestic manufacturing of critical key starting materials, Drug Intermediates and API in India. 
• The financial incentive under the sub-scheme is provided on sales of 41 identified products categorised into four target segments. 
• PLI scheme for Pharmaceuticals and scheme for the promotion of Bulk Drug Parks have also been extended.

Read in detail about Bulk Drug Park in the linked article.

2. Sahkar Se Samriddhi

Syllabus: GS II, Development processes, the role of associations, institutional and other stakeholders

Mains: Ways to strengthen the cooperatives for the overall development of the country

Context: The Government of India is planning to formulate a new National Cooperation Policy to empower the cooperative sector by bringing more transparency, modernisation and competitiveness. 

About the scheme:

• ‘Sahkar se Samriddhi’ is a futuristic vision under the Ministry of Cooperation that aims to provide an administrative, legal and policy framework to encourage the cooperative movement in the country. 
• In order to establish prosperity through cooperation, the government has decided to frame a new National Cooperation Policy.
• This policy will involve consultations with stakeholders such as various ministries, departments of the central and state governments, cooperative federations, NABARD and other cooperative institutions. 
• The joint efforts of both the centre and the states will strengthen the scheme and aid in the implementation of developmental programmes. 
• For better engagement with the cooperatives, the government has also decided to create a national database. 

3. ‘Vagir’: The Fifth Scorpene Submarine

Syllabus: GS III, Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate

Prelims: Salient features of Vagir, Scorpene class submarine, Project 75

Context: The sea trials for the fifth scorpene submarine of Project 75 commenced after which it will be named ‘Vagir’. 

About Vagir: 

• Vagir is the fifth Scorpene (Kalvari) class submarine constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited in collaboration with the Naval Group of France. 
• This is one of the submarines under Project 75 with superior stealth features. 
• It is equipped with advanced acoustic techniques.
• The submarine was named after INS Vagir which was a Russian Vela-class submarine that served in the Navy for a long time. 
• This is capable of undertaking missions like anti-surface warfare, anti-submarine warfare, intelligence gathering, mine laying and area surveillance.

Project 75: Present status

• There are six submarines of the Scorpene class which are to be constructed at the Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited. 
• INS Kalvari and INS Khanderi are two submarines under the project which have been commissioned. 
• The submarines are likely to get inducted every nine months and the last submarine will possibly be delivered by June 2022. 

About Scorpene type submarine:

• It is a conventional submarine designed by the Naval Group for the export market.
• There are 14 Scorpene submarines that are operational at present and are built for the following:
  • The Chilean Navy – 2 units
  • The Malaysian Navy – 2 units
  • The Indian Navy – 6 units 
  • The Brazilian Navy – 4 units
• They are suited for robust operational effectiveness that fulfil multiple purposes of a mission. 

4. One Nation One Ration Card

Syllabus: GS III, Buffer stock and food security

Prelims: One nation one ration card scheme

Mains: Implications of ONORC scheme 

Context: Chhattisgarh became the 35th state to implement the ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ programme. The benefits of the scheme were ascertained by a review carried out by the Department of Food and Public Distribution to assess the nationwide implementation of the scheme.

Read more about ONORC in the linked article.

5. Millets in Mid-day Meal Scheme

Syllabus: GS II, Issues related to health

Prelims: PM POSHAN, Mid Day Meal Scheme, benefits of millets

Mains: Developmental schemes for the betterment of the nutritional status of the children in the country

Context: In order to improve the nutritional status of the children, the central government requested the states to explore the possibility of introducing millets under the PM POSHAN (earlier known as the Mid-Day Meal Scheme) scheme. 

Read more about Mid-day Meal Scheme in the linked article.

6. World Wetlands Day

Syllabus: GS III, Environment, Conservation

Prelims: Wetlands, National Parks, Ramsar sites

Mains: India’s efforts to conserve the wetlands

Context: World Wetlands Day celebrated at Sultanpur National Park.

Know more about World Wetlands Day (2nd Feb) in the linked article.

List of Ramsar Sites in India up to 49:

• Khijadiya Wildlife Sanctuary in Gujarat and Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary in UP have been added to the List of Ramsar Sites.
• India now has a network of 49 Ramsar sites covering an area of 10,93,636 hectares, the highest in South Asia. 

About Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary:

• It is a natural flood plain wetland situated in Sant Kabir Nagar District of UP.
• It was established in 1980.
• Expanding over an area of 29 sq. km, the Bakhira Wildlife Sanctuary provides wintering and staging grounds for a number of waterfowls and a breeding ground for resident birds.
• It is especially important for providing wintering grounds for a large number of species of the Central Asian Flyway.
• Examples of species supported by the sanctuary include Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus), the vulnerable greater spotted eagle (Aquila clanga), common pochard (Aythya ferina) and swamp francolin (Francolinus gularis), and the near-threatened oriental darter (Anhinga melanogaster) and woolly-necked stork (Ciconia episcopus).

About Khijadiya Wildlife Sanctuary:

• Khijadiya, which is part of the Central Asian Flyway, has become the fourth wetland of Gujarat to get the Ramsar tag. 
• It is a freshwater wetland near the coast of the Gulf of Kutch, which was formed following the creation of a bund (dike) in 1920 by the then ruler of the erstwhile princely state of Nawanagar to protect farmlands from saltwater ingress. 
• The sanctuary is now part of Marine National Park, Jamnagar, the first marine national park in the country.
• As one of the important waterbird habitats in North-West India, the Site provides breeding, feeding and roosting grounds for a wide range of resident aquatic and also land-based birds. 
• It provides habitat for over 310 bird species, including 125 waterbirds; over 165,000 individual waterbirds have been counted.
• Examples of species found here include the endangered Pallas’s fish-eagle (Haliaeetus leucoryphus) and Indian skimmer (Rynchops albicollis), and the vulnerable common pochard (Aythya ferina). 

Additional information:

The Minister also released the National Wetland Decadal Change Atlas on the occasion.

• The atlas highlights the changes which have happened in Wetlands across the country in the past decade. 
• The atlas has been prepared by the Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad.
• The original Atlas was released by SAC in 2011 and has over the years been used extensively by all the State Governments also in their planning processes.

7. Saffron Bowl Project

Syllabus: GS II, Government policies and interventions

Prelims: National Saffron Mission

Mains: Importance of saffron cultivation

Context: A few locations in Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya have been identified for saffron cultivation under the saffron bowl project by the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach. 

Locations identified for saffron cultivation: 

• Barapani
• Cherrapunji
• Mawsmai
• Shillong
• Lalingtop

Read more about National Saffron Mission in the linked article.

Read previous PIB here.

February 2nd, 2022, PIB:- Download PDF Here