25 Oct 2021: PIB Summary & Analysis

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Ambassadors’ Round Table for DefExpo 2022
2. NIPUN Bharat Programme
3. Cashew cultivation in India
4. Green Day Ahead Market
5. Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF)

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1. Ambassadors’ Round Table for DefExpo 2022

Context:

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh chaired the Ambassadors’ Round Table for DefExpo 2022.

Details:

• The event is an outreach to friendly foreign countries as also to the defence manufacturing industries of the world.
• The Round Table was aimed to brief the Ambassadors of foreign missions about the planning, arrangements and other details of DefExpo 2022, which will be held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat between March 10-13, 2022.
• Inviting the foreign delegates to attend DefExpo 2022, Asia’s largest defence exhibition, Shri Rajnath Singh said, India is open to conducting business on a mutually beneficially collaborative basis, in the spirit of give and take, for the all-round welfare of everyone.
• He said that the expo will provide a myriad of opportunities to the stakeholders in the aerospace & defence industry.
• DefExpo 2020 will help boost investment, expand manufacturing capacities and capabilities, discover avenues for technology absorption and thus, contribute to furthering the target of USD 5 Billion defence export by 2024. 

2. NIPUN Bharat Programme

Context:

Government sets up a National Steering Committee for the implementation of the NIPUN Bharat Mission.

Details:

• As prescribed in the NIPUN Bharat Mission guidelines, a National Steering Committee (NSC) for implementation of the Mission has been constituted under the chairpersonship of the Union Education Minister and Vice Chairpersonship of the Minister of State for Education.
• The other members of the NSC include:
  • Secretary, School Education & Literacy
  • Director NCERT
  • Vice-Chancellor NIEPA
  • Chairperson NCTE
  • Secretary Education, Uttar Pradesh
  • Secretary Education, Karnataka
  • Director SCERT Gujarat
  • Director SCERT Sikkim
  • Representatives of 7 Union Ministries i.e., Women and Child Development, Tribal Affairs, Social Justice and Empowerment, Health and Family Welfare, Finance, Electronics and Information Technology and Panchayati Raj
  • Two Experts from NCERT and RIE Ajmer
  • Three External Experts
• The Joint Secretary and Mission Director NIPUN Bharat Mission is the convenor for the NSC.
• The following are the roles and responsibilities of the NSC for the NIUPN Bharat Mission:
  • To oversee the progress of the National Mission on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy and provide guidance on policy issues.
  • To arrive at the target to be achieved nationally in 2026-27.
  • To disseminate tools for the measurement of yearly progress in the form of guidelines.
  • To prepare and approve a National Action Plan (based on the State’s Action Plans) with KRAs for every State/UT vis-à-vis factors attributable for the gaps (i.e., lack of Fund, Vacancies, Teachers, Demography, Local issues, Need of Training for teachers, Curriculum & pedagogy related).
  • To review programmatic and financial norms periodically to ensure they are synchronised with targets to be achieved.
  • To develop a methodology of assessment to analyse the progress and provide feedback to States/UTs.

Read more about NIPUN Bharat Mission in the linked article.

3. Cashew cultivation in India

About cashew cultivation in India:

• The area under cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) cultivation in India is around 10.11 lakh ha, the highest amongst all the cashew growing countries.
• The total annual production is approximately 7.53 lakh tonnes with several farmers dependent on it for their livelihood. 
• However, the production of cashew is hampered by several biotic as well as abiotic factors. 
  • Stem and root borer is one of the most debilitating pests as it is capable of killing even the grown-up trees within a short period.
  • Besides pest infestation, cashew nut plantation in coastal India is affected by frequent intense cyclones, and each such devastation requires more than ten years to be restored.

4. Green Day Ahead Market

Context:

Union Minister of Power & New and Renewable Energy launched the Green Day Ahead Market (GDAM).

Details:

• The move is expected to deepen the electricity trade in India.
• It will also provide competitive price signals, besides offering an opportunity to the market participants to trade in green energy, in the most transparent, flexible, competitive, and efficient manner.
• The market-based competitive prices will provide another option to renewable generators to sell power as well as accelerate the renewable capacity addition towards the Government’s vision of building India as a sustainable and efficient energy economy.
• The distribution utilities would also be able to sell surplus renewable power generated in their area. The obligated entities (distribution licensee, open access consumers and captive power consumers) would also be able to meet the RPO target by directly buying green power from the power exchange(s). The non-obligated entities will be able to buy power on a voluntary basis and help increase the share of green power.
• The GDAM will operate in an integrated way with the conventional day-ahead market. 
• The Exchanges will offer the market participants to submit bids together for both conventional and renewable energy through the separate bidding windows.
• The clearance will take place in a sequential manner – renewable energy bids will be cleared first in accordance with the must-run status of the renewables, followed by the conventional segment. 
• This mechanism will allow renewable energy sellers to subsequently bid in the conventional segment should their bids remain uncleared in the green market. 
• There will be separate price discoveries for both conventional and renewables.

5. Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship (MGNF)

Context:

Phase II of Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship launched.

About the Mahatma Gandhi National Fellowship:

• The MGNF program under SANKALP was designed to provide a cadre of professionals at the District level who not only know about governance and public policy in general but vocational education too. 
• MGNF is a unique blend of academic and work-based training handled at the IIM campus and the districts, respectively. 
• The academic module familiarizes the Fellows with concepts from Management, Development Economics, Public Policy and the District Skills Ecosystem. 
• During the fieldwork (District Immersion), the fellows shall work within the district with DSC officials on skilling challenges facing the district.
• Along with the DSC officials, they shall put together District Skill Development Plans (DSDPs) and implementation road maps. 
• MGNFs shall assist the districts on evidence-based planning and management of skilling in the districts. 
• MGNF is an opportunity for young women and men in the age group of 21-30 years who already possess some level of academic or professional expertise for providing catalytic support to the district administration to improve the skill development program delivery.
• Under phase 1, 69 Fellows were deployed in 69 districts in six states with IIM Bangalore as Academic Partner.
• In phase 2, 661 MGNFs will be deployed across all districts of the country. 8 more IIMs have been onboarded taking the total to 9 IIMs (IIM Ahmedabad, IIM Bangalore, IIM-Jammu, IIM Kozhikode, IIM Lucknow, IIM Nagpur, IIM Ranchi, IIM-Udaipur and IIM Visakhapatnam).

Read previous PIB here.

October 25th, 2021, PIB:- Download PDF Here