National
Agri Infra Fund Awards
⇒ The Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar addressed the Agri Infra Fund Awards ceremony in New Delhi on 30 July 2022.
Underlining the role of AIF in bridging the Agri Infra gap by empowering agriculture and villages and boosting private investment, Shri Tomar said the Agri Infra Fund has been brought to increase agricultural productivity, increase agricultural exports, make agriculture sector employable and attract the new generation.
On the occasion, Shri Tomar gave away the awards under various categories to honour Banks and State Governments for their valuable contribution in financing under the Central Sector Scheme of ‘Agriculture Infrastructure Fund’.
Awardees:
» Among the Best Performing Banks, State Bank of India was awarded as numero uno followed by Punjab National Bank and Bank of India.
» In the second category where banks were awarded for their valuable contribution, Bank of Baroda followed by Central Bank of India, Canara Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were honoured.
» In the Target Achievers Category during the Campaign, awarded Banks were Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, HDFC Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, Punjab & Sind Bank and Karnataka Bank.
» Among the Best Performing Regional Rural Banks, Madhya Pradesh Gramin Bank followed by Madhyanchal Gramin Bank, Maharashtra Gramin Bank, Baroda Rajasthan Kshetriya Gramin Bank were awarded.
State category:
» In the State category, Madhya Pradesh was adjudged the best performing State, whereas Andhra Pradesh was recognised as best performer in sanction of PACS applications.
- As the best performer in faster disposal of PACS applications, Karnataka was awarded and Rajasthan was declared the Rising State under AIF.
» NABARD Consultancy services, the Knowledge Partner for this Scheme was honoured for the laudable contribution in carrying forward the Scheme.
About AIF:
- Agriculture Infrastructure Fund (AIF) was launched by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi under the ambitious AatmaNirbhar Bharat campaign.
- Agri Infra Fund is a dedicated central scheme providing medium-long term credit facility for creation of post-harvest management infrastructure and community farming assets.
- This facility comes with financial support by way of three percent Interest subvention from Government and credit guarantee by CGTMSE up to Rupees 2 crore.
- This scheme can be converged with most of the existing Central schemes in terms of combination of benefits of different schemes.
- This has immensely benefitted stakeholders in the agricultural ecosystem – Farmers, Agri-entrepreneur, FPO, SHG, JLG, PACS, APMC, Startups, Central Marketing Cooperative Societies and State Agencies.
- As of now, there has been sanction of 13,700 projects, costing investment of around Rs 17,500 crore with a sanction of Rs 10,131 crore loans.
- On an average 30 agriculture infrastructure projects per day are being sanctioned under the scheme all over the country in shape of warehouses, assaying units, primary processing units, custom hiring centres, sorting & grading units, cold store and cold chain projects, etc.
Point 5140 at Dras, Kargil christened as 'GUN HILL'
⇒ To commemorate the victory of Indian Armed Forces and pay tribute to the supreme sacrifice of the Gunners in “Operation Vijay”, Point 5140 at Dras, in Kargil sector has been christened as “Gun Hill”.
- The ceremony was conducted in the presence of Veterans from all Artillery Regiments, which got the honour title “KARGIL” in Operation Vijay.
- Regiment of Artillery of Indian Army, with lethal and accurate firepower, was able to have a telling effect on the enemy troops and their defences including Point 5140, which was the key factor in early completion of operations.
- On July 26, 1999, the Indian Army announced the successful culmination of ‘Operation Vijay’, declaring victory after a nearly three-month-long battle with Pakistani troops on the icy heights of Kargil in Ladakh.
International
13th session of India-Uzbekistan Inter governmental Commission
⇒ Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textile Shri Piyush Goyal addressed the 13th session of India-Uzbekistan Inter governmental Commission (IGC) in New Delhi on 28 July 2022.
- The Uzbekistan delegation was led by Mr Jamshid Khodjaev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investments and Foreign Trade of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
While addressing the session, the Union Minister has termed India-Uzbekistan relations as key to India’s vision of integrated extended neighbourhood.
- The Minister emphasized upon the need to identify new drivers for ambitious growth in bilateral trade between India and Uzbekistan.
- He underlined seven emerging areas of cooperation between both the nations namely Digital Payments, Space Cooperation, Agri and Dairy, Pharma, Gems and Jewellery, MSME and Inter-regional cooperation.
- Shri Goyal mentioned that despite Covid-19, interactions & trade have increased in the last few years. Trade has increased from $247 mn in 2019-20 to $342 mn in 2021-22, a growth of 38.5%.
» A fruitful discussion took place between the Deputy Prime Minister of Uzbekistan, Mr. Jamshid Khodjayev, and the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Narendra Singh Tomar, in New Delhi.
- During the meeting it was agreed to take forward the ongoing cooperation in the Agricultural sector between the two countries.
Michelle Obama's New Book
⇒ Publisher Penguin Random House said Michelle Obama’s new book “The Light We Carry: Overcoming in Uncertain Times” will arrive on November 15, 2022.
The book is described as “a series of fresh stories and insightful reflections on change, challenge, and power, including her belief that when we light up for others, we can illuminate the richness and potential of the world around us, discovering deeper truths and new pathways for progress.”
Michelle Obama’s first book “Becoming” was released in 2018. Becoming is the memoir of former United States First Lady Michelle Obama.
Sports
President of FIH
⇒ The International Hockey Federation (FIH) appointed Egypt’s Seif Ahmed as its acting president following Indian administrator Narinder Batra’s resignation from the post.
- Batra became president of FIH in 2016 and reclaimed the position last year for a second term till 2024.
- Batra resigned as FIH president and also quit as Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief. He also gave up his International Olympic Committee (IOC) membership which was directly linked with his IOA position.
» FIH unanimously appointed FIH EB Member and President of the African Hockey Federation Seif Ahmed (Egypt) as Acting President until the next Presidential elections.
- The FIH said its Executive Board has officially accepted Batra’s resignation and unanimously appointed Ahmed as its interim chief till fresh elections are held on November 5 during its two-day virtual Congress.