National
India Post partners with Shiprocket
⇒ India Post, the largest delivery network of the world, has signed an MoU with Shiprocket to boost last-mile Ecommerce delivery services across the country.
India Post, India’s leading postal service provider, has announced partnership with Shiprocket, a leading logistics aggregator company, to enhance its last-mile delivery services for various E-commerce products.
Key Points:
- M/s Bigfoot Retail Solutions (Shiprocket) is an emerging logistics aggregator company with three lakh sellers and 70 million consumers annually.
- This partnership between India Post and Shiprocket will provide shipping and last-mile delivery services to Shiprocket’s three lakh strong seller base which includes Startups and a large number of small and medium businesses.
- To facilitate this partnership and to provide better services to customers, India Post has ensured IT integration with the IT systems of Shiprocket. This integration has been done through various API for Tariff, Booking, Label Generation, Pickup and Track & Trace.
- The MoU marks a significant milestone for taking e-commerce to the last mile and is expected to benefit millions of customers all over country.
Sagar Parikrama Phase IV
⇒ Phase-IV of ‘Sagar Parikrama’ in the state of Karnataka took place for two days; covering the stretch of Uttar Kannada on 18th March 2023 and on 19th March 2023 Udupi followed by Dakshan Kannada. Overall, 10 locations were covered in 3 costal districts.
Sagar Parikrama is an initiative aiming to resolve the issues of fishermen and other stakeholders and to facilitate their economic upliftment through various schemes and programs being implemented by the Government of India.
Key Points:
- During the event, certificates/sanctions related to Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada scheme, KCC& State Scheme was awarded to the progressive fishermen, especially coastal fishermen, fishers and fish farmers, young fishery entrepreneurs etc.
- Literature on PMMSY scheme, State schemes, e-shram, FIDF, KCC etc. were popularised through print media, electronic media, videos, digital campaign through jingles among fishers for wide publicity of schemes.
About “Sagar Parikrama”:
- The journey of “Sagar Parikrama” has started with the theme of “KRANTI se SHANTI” as Phase-I on 5th March 2022 from Mandvi, Gujarat (Memorial of Shyamji Krishna Varma) to Okha-Dwarka, and completed at Porbandar on 6th March 2022 covering 3 locations.
- Phase-II program from 23rd to 25th September 2022 covered 7 locations from Mangrol, Veraval, Diu, Jafrabad, Surat, Daman & Valsad and interacted with fishermen to know the problems of Coastal Fisher folk.
- Phase-III ‘Sagar Parikrama’ was started from Surat Hazira Port, Gujarat on 19th February 2023 and covered the coastal areas of northern Maharashtra 5 locations namely Satpati (District Palghar), Vasai, Versova, New Ferry Wharf (Bhaucha Dhakka) & Sasson Dock, and other areas of Mumbai from 20-21 February 2023.
Other Important Points:
» Karnataka state has 5.74 lakh hectares of freshwater sources consisting of 3.02 lakh ha of ponds and tanks, 2.72 lakh ha of reservoirs, 8,000 ha of brackish water resources and 320 Km coastline with a continental shelf area of 27,000 Sq Km.
- Mangaluru and Malpe fishing harbours are the main contributors in the Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts respectively.
- The fish production from the state contributed about 6.6% of India’s total fish production for the year 2021-22 and ranks 3th position in total fish production, in Marine fish production 5th position and Inland fish production 7th position.
- Per-capita fish consumption in the state is around 8.08 kg. The contribution of Fisheries Sector to GSDP at current prices during 2011-12 was Rs 2,723 Crore and it has increased to Rs 7,827 Crore in 2020-21. Export value of Marine products from Karnataka was 1,20,427 MT worth Rs1,962.19 crore during 2021-22.
» India’s has a coastline of 8118 km, covering 9 maritime States & 4 Union Territories and providing livelihood support to 2.8 million fisher folks.
- India contributes 8% of the global share of fish production and is ranked as the 3rd largest fish producer in the world.
- The total fish production of the nation is 162.48 lakh tonnes, of which 121.21 lakh tonnes are from inland and 41.27 lakh tonnes from marine.
- The value of fisheries exports stood at INR 57,586.48 crores in 2021-22.
- The sector shows a steady growth rate in GVA accounting for a 6.724 % share of Agriculture GDP and contributing to about 17% of agriculture exports.
International
AuditOnline – Facilitating Online audits across Panchayati Raj Institutions – awarded the WSIS Prizes 2023
⇒ The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) along with National Informatics Centre (NIC), functioning as technology partner of the Government, has been recognized for its AuditOnline software programme at the WSIS Forum 2023 at the ITU Headquarters.
- AuditOnline has been recognized under Category 7 — Action Line (AL) C7 — ICT Applications: e-Government — for conducting online audit of all Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
Key Points:
- The application for the project AuditOnline: Facilitating Audit in Government under Category C7 – ICT Applications: e-Government was submitted in the 12th edition of the contest of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes 2023 at the International Telecommunication Union, Geneva.
- AuditOnline has been awarded the WSIS Prizes Award 2023 under the Action Line category ICT Applications: e-Government based on the most voted project in the category.
- The prize distribution ceremony was held at the Centre International de Conférence Genève (CICG), also known as International Conference Centre Geneva in Switzerland on 14th March, 2023.
- Shri Sunil Jain, DDG (Panchayat Informatics Division), NIC received the coveted ITU WSIS 2023 Winner Award for AuditOnline application developed as part of Panchayat Enterprise Suite under ePanchayat Mission Mode Project initiated by MoPR in virtual mode.
» The WSIS Prizes 2023 is an exceptional international recognition of WSIS Stakeholders as Winners and Champions for their excellence in supporting the implementation of WSIS outcomes, WSIS Action Lines and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
About AuditOnline:
- An audit is an integral part of accounting henceforth AuditOnline, a cross-disciplinary and open-source software (OSS) having a metadata-based framework, instigated as a part of the e-panchayat Mission Mode Project under the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.
- AuditOnline facilitates Internal/External financial, and/or for funds(s) allotment-based audits to certify the accounts of the government’s last granular level entity, not limited to this it also maintains past audit records to ensure good governance and reliability.
Background:
» World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is an annual award event coordinated by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), affiliated with the United Nations (UN), in collaboration with UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD to promote ICTs for achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals. This event is intended for ICT development initiatives that support Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
WSIS Forum 2023:
The WSIS Forum 2023 was held from 13–17 March 2023 at the International Conference Centre Geneva (CICG) in Geneva, with the support of remote participation.
Theme:
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2023 was organized on the theme, ‘WSIS Action Lines for Building Back Better and Accelerating the Achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’.
» The annual World Summit on the Information Society Forum is a global multistakeholder platform facilitating the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines for advancing sustainable development.
Organized by:
It is organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line co-/facilitators and other UN organizations.
» It provides an opportunity for information exchange, knowledge creation and sharing of best practices, while identifying emerging trends and fostering partnerships, taking into account the evolving Information and Knowledge Societies.
Important Day
CESTAT commemorates 40 years of glorious and successful journey
⇒ The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) commemorated 40 years of glorious and successful journey on 18 March 2023.
Hon’ble Mr. Justice Dinesh Maheshwari, Judge, Supreme Court of India, was the Chief Guest of the Inaugural Session and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Satish Chandra Sharma, Chief Justice of Delhi High Court, was the Guest of Honour.
Justice Dilip Gupta, President, CESTAT, led the commemoration with participation from Members of Delhi Principal Bench, besides 7 other Regional Benches of CESTAT and senior officials of the Tribunal.
- A souvenir was also released to mark the 40 glorious years of CESTAT.
The inaugural session was followed by two working sessions.
- The first session discussed on ‘Use of Technology in Tribunals for Speedy Delivery of Justice’.
- In the second session there was a discussion on ‘Experiments of Tribunals – Triumphs and Tribulations’.
ABOUT CESTAT:
- It is under article 323 B of the Constitution of India and section 129 of the Customs Act, 1962 that the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal was constituted in the year 1982 on October 11.
- The Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) was constituted originally as Customs, Excise & Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal (CEGAT) on October 11, 1982. It was renamed CESTAT on 14 May 2003.
- The Tribunal Reforms Act, 2021 has now been enacted to further amend certain Acts, including the Customs Act, 1962 and in exercise of the powers conferred by section 3 of the aforesaid Act, The Tribunal (Conditions of Service) Rules, 2021 have been framed.
- The Principal Bench of the Tribunal is at Delhi. Initially, the Tribunal had 3 Regional Benches at Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. Thereafter, 5 more Regional Benches were constituted.
- The Bangalore Bench of the Tribunal was constituted on 30.11.2000, the Ahemdabad Bench on 03.03.2006, the Allahabad Bench on 14.08.2015, the Chandigarh Bench on 04.11.2015 and the Hyderabad Bench on 06.11.2015.
- The sanctioned strength of the Tribunal as on date, apart from the President of the Tribunal, is of 16 Judicial Members and 16 Technical Members.