National
Deep Ocean Mission
⇒ Recently, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, has approved the proposal of Ministry of Earth Sciences on ‘Deep Ocean Mission’.
Objective:
The “Deep Sea Mission” has been approved with an objective to explore Deep Ocean for resources, and develop deep sea technologies for sustainable use of ocean resources.
Estimated Cost of the Mission:
The estimated cost of the Mission will be Rs 4077 crore for a period of 5 years to be implemented in a phase-wise manner. The estimated cost for the first phase for the 3 years (2021-2024) would be Rs 2823.4 crore.
Nodal Ministry:
Deep Ocean Mission will be a mission mode project to support the Blue Economy Initiatives of the Government of India. The Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) will be the nodal ministry to implement this multi-institutional ambitious mission.
The Deep Ocean Mission consists six major components:
- Development of Technologies for Deep Sea Mining, and Manned Submersible
- Development of Ocean Climate Change Advisory Services
- Technological innovations for exploration and conservation of deep-sea biodiversity
- Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration
- Energy and freshwater from the Ocean
- Advanced Marine Station for Ocean Biology
2021-2030 as the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development:
Oceans are storehouse of food, energy, minerals, medicines, modulator of weather and climate and underpin life on Earth. Considering importance of the oceans on sustainability, the United Nations has declared the decade, 2021-2030 as the Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.
In India, Blue Economy as one of the core dimensions of growth:
India has a unique maritime position. Its 7517 km long coastline is home to nine coastal states and 1382 islands. The Government of India’s Vision of New India by 2030 enunciated in February 2019 highlighted the Blue Economy as one of the ten core dimensions of growth.
International
5th edition of VivaTech
⇒ The 5th edition of VivaTech was held from 16 June to 19 June, 2021.
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed at the 5th edition of VivaTech on 16th June 2021. The Prime Minister was invited as a Guest of Honour to deliver the keynote address at VivaTech 2021.
Key Points:
Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister said that India and France have been working closely on a wide range of subjects. Among these, technology and digital are emerging areas of cooperation.
He also said India is home to one of the world’s largest start-up eco systems. India offers what innovators and investors need. He invited the world to invest in India based on the five pillars of: Talent, Market, Capital, Eco-system and, Culture of openness.
ABOUT:
VivaTech is one of the largest digital and startup events in Europe, held in Paris every year since 2016. It is jointly organized by Publicis Groupe – a prominent advertising and marketing conglomerate and Les Echos – a leading French media group.
It brings together stakeholders in technology innovation and the startup ecosystem and includes exhibitions, awards, panel discussions and startup contests.
42nd Session of FAO Conference
⇒ The 42nd Session of FAO Conference was held virtually in Rome from 14 June to 18 June, 2021.
The Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar addressed the 42nd session of the FAO Conference.
During his Address, Union Minister Shri Narendra Singh Tomar highlighted some facts, he said:
» India is a founder member of the FAO and has played significant role since inception as Chair and member of various statutory bodies and committees.
» Faced with the debilitating Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, Govt of India took swift actions on different fronts to ensure that the farming calendar is not affected by the restrictions imposed during the lock downs. Significant Policy and legislative decisions were taken during this period to liberalize agri marketing to transform Indian agriculture for the benefit of farmers and consumers.
- ‘KISAN RAIL’ were introduced by Indian Railways to transport the essential commodities including perishable horticulture produce, milk and dairy produce from the production centres to the large urban markets across the country.
- The Government of India launched the “Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package” to improve the situation of our workers and to provide them relief during Covid Pandemic. Under this scheme, free food grains were provided to 810 million beneficiaries.
- Under the “PM Kisan” Scheme more than Rupees 137000 Crore have been sent to the bank accounts of over 100 million farmers, to provide income support to the farmers.
- Agriculture sector in India performed well during the severe Covid-19 pandemic and registered an all time high production of 305 million tons of food grains as well as their exports contributing to the Global Food Security.
Released a commemorative coin on 75th Anniversary:
Food and Agriculture Organization completed 75 glorious years of service to humanity on 16th October 2020. The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi ji released a commemorative coin of Rs 75 denomination to mark the 75th anniversary of the FAO. This commemorative coin aptly combines the themes of agricultural production and nutrition in its motto – “सही पोषण देश रोशन’’ meaning “a country will shine if the nutrition is correct”.
Death
Dr Kenneth David Kaunda, former President of Zambia
⇒ Dr Kenneth David Kaunda, former President of Zambia died on 17 June, 2021. The 97-year-old Kaunda served as Zambia first president from 1964 to 1991.