National
First ever “Credit Guarantee Scheme” for Livestock Sector
⇒ First ever “Credit Guarantee Scheme” for Livestock Sector has been launched for rebooting rural economy by leveraging Micro, Small & Medium Enterprise (MSMEs).
Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying is implementing the Credit Guarantee Scheme under Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund to strengthen credit delivery system and facilitate smooth flow of credit to the MSMEs engaged in Livestock sector without hassles of collateral security.
- For operationalizing the scheme, DAHD has established a Credit Guarantee fund Trust of Rs 750.00 crores, which will provide credit guarantee coverage up to 25% of the credit facilities extended to the MSMEs by the eligible lending institutions.
- The credit guarantee scheme facilitates access to finance for un-served and under-served livestock sector, making availability of financial assistance from lenders to mainly first-generation entrepreneurs and under privileged section of society, who lack collateral security for supporting their ventures.
- The main objective of the Credit Guarantee Scheme is that the lender should give importance to project viability and secure the credit facility purely on the basis primary security of the assets financed.
Credit guarantee fund trust:
The establishment of credit guarantee fund trust was approved under the Prime Minister’s AtmaNirbhar Bharat Abhiyan stimulus package of Rs 15000 crores “Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund” for incentivizing investments by individual entrepreneurs, private companies, MSMEs, Farmers Producers Organizations and Section 8 companies to establish-
- the dairy processing and value addition infrastructure
- meat processing and value addition infrastructure
- Animal Feed Plant
- Breed Improvement technology and Breed Multiplication Farm
- Animal Waste to Wealth Management (Agri Waste Management)
- Setting up of Veterinary Vaccine and Drugs Manufacturing facilities
Key Features of Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) scheme:
- Interest Subvention of 3%
- loan up to 90% of the total project cost from any Scheduled Bank, National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC)
National Conference on Rural WASH Partners' Forum
» Union Minister for Jal Shakti, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat inaugurated the National Conference on Rural WASH Partners’ Forum (RWPF) at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 21 July 2023.
Rural WASH Partners’ Forum (RWPF) celebrated its 1st anniversary with a two-day National Conference on 21st July 2023 at Vigyan Bhawan.
Theme:
The theme of the conference was “Accelerating Progress towards a Swachh Sujal Bharat.”
The inaugural session of the conference also saw launch/ release/ felicitation of following:
- Digital WASH Academy aims to build the capacity of various stakeholders associated with water supply programme viz. administrators, engineers, panchayat functionaries, technicians, sanitation workers and foot soldiers.
- The Academy will equip them with necessary knowledge and skills to effectively contribute towards achieving the Mission objectives. ECHO India a leading non-profit organization has supported the Department in establishing the Academy.
- RWPF Annual Yearbook and Web page: The work done by the development partners in different regions & across various themes is documented in the Yearbook and showcased on the Web page.
- The associated acknowledgment of the work on ground by various agencies encourages the partners to perform better and support the government in reaching desired goals.
- Swachhata Chronicles – Transformative Tales from India: A compendium of 75 ODF Plus Best Practices, showcases the innovations, measures taken to overcome barriers and raise awareness, special campaigns launched, and other endeavors of States/UTs in various ODF Plus activities in order to meet the goals of SBM-G Phase-II.
- Field Assessment Framework and Ranking Protocol of Swachh Survekshan Grameen (SSG) 2023: The detailed framework defining how the States & UTs will be ranked in the SSG 2023.
- Manual for Disaster Management Plan (DMP) to ensure safety, uninterrupted supply and minimum loss of WASH assets and services. The Plan aligns with the two-flagship missions of DDWS i.e. Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) and Swachh Bharat Mission-Grameen (SBM-G).
- Felicitation of Four start-ups by Hon’ble Minister of Jal Shakti, for developing cost-effective and portable water quality testing kits under Technology Challenge conducted by Invest India with support from DDWS.
- Elico, Cluix and Heuristics have developed digital portable multi parameter water quality testing devices which can directly be connected with web-based Dashboard. Reports so generated can also be used for monitoring the programme.
- Device developed by Earthface is NABL approved for water analysis and purification.
- Digital WASH Academy aims to build the capacity of various stakeholders associated with water supply programme viz. administrators, engineers, panchayat functionaries, technicians, sanitation workers and foot soldiers.
Key Points:
» The National Conference provided a forum for partners to share their experiences, learn from each other, and identify new ways to collaborate.
» The National Conference was a unique opportunity for stakeholders from across the WASH sector to come together and discuss how to accelerate progress towards a Swachh Sujal Bharat.
» The conference also featured keynote speakers from government, the private sector, and civil society focusing on the following key areas:
- Reviewing the progress made in the past year on JJM and SBM-G
- Identifying the challenges and opportunities for the WASH sector in rural India
- Developing a roadmap for the future of the WASH sector
About the Rural WASH Partners’ Forum:
The Rural WASH Partners’ Forum (RWPF), a platform of Department of Drinking Water & Sanitation (DDWS), Ministry of Jal Shakti, for Development and Sector Partners working in the rural WASH sector in India.
- The RWPF was launched in July 2022 and has since grown to include over 200 partners, representing a wide range of expertise and experience.
The RWPF’s mission is to accelerate progress towards a Swachh Sujal Bharat. The forum works to achieve its mission by:
- Facilitating collaboration between Development Partners and Sector Partners
- Sharing knowledge and best practices
- Identifying and addressing challenges in the WASH sector
- Advocating for policies that support the WASH sector
- Launch special campaign(s) in their thematic area, for better implementation and achievement of Mission objectives.
» 12 identified thematic areas have been allocated to the Development & Sector Partners after mutual agreement. RWPF Secretariat has been set up at Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation (DDWS) where KPMG India is the platform coordinator to take tasks and activities forward.
The work within the RWPF has been categorized into 12 themes as below:
- Water Quality Management
- Capacity Building
- Source Sustainability
- Faecal Sludge Management
- Skilling
- Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
- Plastic Waste Management
- Grey Water Management
- Operation & Maintenance (O&M), WASH in institutions & Gender
- IoT & Cloud based computing
- Innovation and R&D including use of Technologies, and
- Information, Education & Communication
The platform facilitates following activities:
- Positioning RWPF as a WASH Think Tank
- Facilitate periodic exchange of ideas among various stakeholders such as States and Development/ Sector partners
- Facilitate technical assistance to States/ UTs for implementation of JJM/ SBM-G and address such State specific needs
- Identify best practices and scalable solutions
- Establish synergies between the Sector partners and the States/ UTs for optimizing efforts in the WASH sector
- Capacity building and awareness creation through Regional and National Conferences, webinars, and trainings on thematic area topics
National Geoscience Awards 2022
» The President of India, Smt Droupadi Murmu presented the prestigious National Geoscience Awards-2022 at a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan Cultural Centre on July 24, 2023.
Awardees for the National Geoscience Awards 2022:
- For the National Geoscience Awards- 2022, a total of 173 nominations were received. The number of valid nominations under the three award categories is 168.
- Out of the total 12 Awards, the Award Making Authority (AMA) has finally selected 10 awards which include 4 individual awards, 3 team awards & 3 joint award.
- These 10 NGA awards were presented to 22 Geoscientists by the President of India.
- The 04 individual award includes the one award for National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement and another award for National Young Geoscientist Award.
- 8 awards (3 Team Award + 3 Joint Award + 2 individual Awards= 20 awardees) were presented in the category of National Geoscience Awards.
National Geoscience Awards 2022: List of Award Winners
National Geoscience Award for Lifetime Achievement – 2022: Dr. Om Narain Bhargava, Honorary Professor, Department of Geology, Panjab University, Chandigarh
- Om Narain Bhargava is well known for his pioneering work in the Himalayas spanning over the last four decades.
National Young Geoscientist Award – 2022: Dr. Amiya Kumar Samal, Assistant Professor, Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
- Dr. Amiya Kumar Samal, Assistant Professor has made significant contribution in understanding the variation of Sub-Continental Lithospheric Mantle (SCLM) below different Archean cratons of the Indian shield.
National Geoscience Awards – 2022: List of Winners (Official Link)
About National Geoscience Award:
» The National Geoscience Award is instituted by the Ministry of Mines, Government of India with the aim to honour individuals and teams for extraordinary achievements and outstanding contributions in various fields of geosciences.
- Instituted in 1966, the National Geoscience Awards (NGA) is a symbol of recognition and appreciation for exceptional individuals and organizations that have demonstrated excellence, dedication and innovation in the realm of Geosciences.
- Before the year 2009, these awards were called as National Mineral Awards.
The Ministry of Mines confers National Geoscience Awards every year in three categories:
- National Geoscience Award for Life Time Achievement (SINGLE AWARD)
- National Young Geoscientist Award (SINGLE AWARD)
- National Geoscience Award in various fields of geosciences (TEN AWARDS)
National Geoscience Awards are presented in the field of Mineral Discovery and Exploration; Basic Geosciences; Applied Geosciences; and Mining, Mineral Beneficiation and Sustainable Mineral Development.
Important Day
World Population Day 2023
⇒ World Population Day is observed every year on 11 July, which seeks to raise awareness of global population issues.
The main aim behind having a World Population Day is to focus attention on consequence of population issues and how it affects overall development plans and programs.
Theme:
The theme for the World Population Day 2023 was ‘Unleashing the power of gender equality: Uplifting the voices of women and girls to unlock our world’s infinite possibilities’.
History:
- World Population Day was established by the then-Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme in 1989.
- The day is meant to increase awareness about the need to find solutions issues related to growing population.
- Inspiration for this day is drawn from the interest that was raised by “Five Billion Day” on July 11, 1987. This was the day when the world’s population reached 5 billion.
- By resolution 45/216 of December 1990, the United Nations General Assembly decided to continue observing World Population Day to enhance awareness of population issues, including their relations to the environment and development.
- The Day was first marked on 11 July 1990 in more than 90 countries. Since then, a number of a number of UNFPA country offices and other organizations and institutions commemorate World Population Day, in partnership with governments and civil society.
World Population Trends:
- According to the United Nations, it took hundreds of thousands of years for the world population to grow to 1 billion – then in just another 200 years or so, it grew sevenfold.
- In 2011, the global population reached the 7 billion mark, it stands at almost 7.9 billion in 2021, and it’s expected to grow to around 8.5 billion in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050, and 10.9 billion in 2100.