Daily Current Affairs 5 February 2020

Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) Global Hunger Index 2019

• India’s ranking in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2019 brought out by Concern World Wide is 102. India’s ranking in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2018 was 103. As per GHI Report 2019 of Concern World Wide, the composite GHI scores of India have improved from 38.8 in 2000 to 30.3 in 2019. Thus, the country has shown consistent improvement over the years.
• The Government of India accords high priority to the issue of hunger and has been providing foodgrains at highly subsidized prices to the targeted population through State Governments/Union Territory Administrations under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 and Other Welfare Schemes (OWS).
• NFSA provides for coverage of up to 75% of the rural population and up to 50% of the urban population for receiving foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), thus covering about two-thirds of the population of the country for receiving foodgrains @ Rs 1/2/3 per kg for Nutri-cereals/wheat/rice respectively. Identification of beneficiaries under the Act is under two categories- households covered under Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) and Priority Households (PHH), within the coverage determined for the State/UT. While Priority Households are entitled to receive 5 kg per person per month, AAY households, which constitute the poorest of the poor, continue to receive 35 Kg of foodgrains per household per month. At present, the Act is being implemented in all the States/UTs covering about 80 crore persons to get highly subsidized foodgrains. The coverage under the Act is substantially high to ensure that all the vulnerable and needy sections of the society get its benefit. The Act also has a special focus on nutritional support for women and children. Pregnant women, lactating mothers, and children up to 14 years of age are entitled to nutritious meals, free of cost, as per the prescribed nutritional standards. In case of non-supply of entitled foodgrains or meals, the beneficiaries will receive food security allowance. The Act also contains provisions for setting up of grievance redressal mechanism at the District and State levels. The implementation of NFSA through the Public Distribution System (PDS) is a joint responsibility of the Central and State Governments/UT Administrations, and the State Governments/UT Administrations are responsible for the identification of beneficiaries under the NFSA.
• During the year 2018-19, the Government allocated a quantity of 612.18 lakh MT of foodgrains to the States/UTs under NFSA, Other Welfare Schemes and allocations due to natural calamities and festivals. During the current year i.e. 2019-20, the Government of India has so far allocated 603.95 lakh MT of foodgrains under NFSA, OWS, and additional allocations. The scheme of End-to-End Computerization of the PDS has ensured the rightful targeting of the beneficiaries all over the country.
• Further, the Government of India has issued advisories to all States/UTs to identify and cover the weakest sections of the society under PDS and launch special drives to issue ration cards to them. Advisories have been issued to all State/UTs that no beneficiary/household shall be deleted from the list of eligible beneficiaries/households only on the grounds of not possessing Aadhaar and shall also not be denied subsidized foodgrains or cash transfer of food subsidy under NFSA due to non-availability of Aadhaar or failure of biometric authentication.

Source: PIB

2) Defense Expo 2020

DefExpo-2020, a flagship biennial event of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India, one of the largest events of its kind is being held for the first time in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh from 5th to 9th Feb 2020. The 11th edition of Def Expo promises to bring new technologies, technological solutions, where Defence manufacturing companies from India and abroad showcase their products and services in the Defence arena, on a single platform. The tremendous response shown by Defence manufacturing companies and the partner countries will surely hold Defence Expo 2020 on a higher pedestal in terms of the offerings for Defence related industries.

DefExpo Event and Theme

• The main theme of the DefExpo India- 2020 is ‘India: The Emerging Defence Manufacturing Hub’ and the focus will be on ‘Digital Transformation of Defence’.
• Reflecting the Government’s focus on ‘Make in India’, Def Expo 2020, would offer an excellent opportunity for the Indian Defence industry to showcase its capabilities and promote its export potential. Defense Expo 2020 would prove to be an effective platform to showcase the unique products that help to achieve the Digital Transformation of Defence, where India’s Defence public sector units, and also India's growing private industry and MSME will be bringing their cutting-edge technology products to be showcased to the World.

Participation

• The number of companies registered for participating in the DefExpo 2020 has reached 1,028. In the DefExpo 2018, held in Chennai, 702 companies had participated. Thus, it has become by far the biggest ever DefExpo to be held in India.
• The number of participating foreign companies has also increased to 172 from the previous figure of 160.
• The booked exhibition space by exhibitors for DefExpo 2020 has gone up by 96 percent to over 43,021 square meters, compared to around 27,000 during the last edition. Defense Ministers and Service Chiefs of 38 countries have confirmed their participation for the DefExpo 2020. A substantial number of Memoranda of Undertaking (MoUs) are expected to be inked during the Expo, resulting in forging of new business collaborations.

Highlights of the event:

• Live demonstrations of the services, DPSUs and industry showing the land, naval, air and internal security systems in action. A live demonstration will be held at two locations viz. one at the exhibition site and the other at the Gomati riverfront. There will be no damage to the environment during the Gomati River Front display.
• Business seminars are being organized by both international and Indian Industry chambers viz. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Ph.D. Chamber of Commerce and Industry, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), SYNERGIA, Directorate of Standardisation (DOS)/Department of Defence Production (DDP), US-India Business Council (USIBC), US-India Strategic Partnership Forum (USISPF), etc. The seminar topics are futuristic and include discussions on artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), drones, wired warrior, etc.
• Ministers from 15 African countries shall participate in the conclave.
• For this exposition, technology has been used as an enabler and for the first time, the DefExpo App was released by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh on December 27, 2019, which is available on Apple App Store and Android Play Store. The main features of the app are to ‘inform, engage and feedback’. It provides detailed information about the day-to-day events; participating exhibitors; DPSUs, guest speakers of seminars/webinars; publications i.e., electronic brochures and e-books; maps and directions of the venues and city weather.
• The India Pavilion will showcase the combined strength of India’s public sector and private sector in defense production.

Source: PIB

3) Anganwadi beneficiaries

For every 100 Anganwadi beneficiaries in the country, only seven are in urban areas, according to the government’s response to a Right to Information (RTI). This is primarily because of a severe lack of anganwadis in cities, leading to poor coverage of the government’s flagship program in early childhood development.

About Anganwadi

• Anganwadis or day­care centers are set up under the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) by the Women and Child Development Ministry to provide a package of six services. The services include supplementary nutrition; pre­school non-­formal education; immunization, nutrition, and health education; as well as referral services. The aim of the scheme is to reduce infant mortality and child malnutrition. Beneficiaries include children in the age group of six months to six years, and pregnant women and lactating mothers.

While there was a total of 7.95 crore beneficiaries of the Anganwadi scheme in the country, as on September 30, 2019, only 55 lakh were registered at urban anganwadis, according to the government's reply on January 28 to the RTI plea.

Reason

• This is primarily because of an acute paucity of Anganwadi centers in urban areas. There are as many as 13.79 lakh anganwadis operational across the country, out of which 9.31 lakh centers are linked to the government’s web­enabled data entry system called Rapid Reporting System. Of those anganwadis that can be monitored online, 1.09 lakh centers are in urban areas and the remaining 8.22 lakh were in rural areas of the country, according to the RTI reply
• As per Census 2011, 32% of India’s 1.2 billion population live in cities, though experts have said that if the definition of an urban settlement was broadened, the share of urban population will be much higher. A recent first-of-­its kind pan-­India study on nutrition status, the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey 2016­18, found that 35% of children under five were stunted and 17% were wasted. It also said 22% of children in the age group of 5­9 years were stunted and 23% were thin for their age. Also, 20% of those in the 10­-19 years age group were thin for their age. 

Source: The Hindu

4) KVIC Distributes 1000 Bee Boxes in Arunachal Pradesh

• Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has been continuously working to empower the farmers of the North East region to help them earn an additional income through various schemes under the aegis of the Ministry of MSME. Shri VK Saxena, Chairman KVIC distributed 1000 bee boxes to 100 farmers in the presence of Shri Tage Taki, Chairman Arunachal Khadi Board, and few other dignitaries.
• Arunachal Pradesh has an abundance of Flora and Fauna and has the untapped potential of becoming a truly honey-producing state. High altitude honey is rich in antioxidants and hence can be sold at a premium price
• Not only honey, but products such as pollen, propolis, royal jelly, and bee venom are also marketable and can greatly help the farmers who otherwise migrate to cities for menial labor. As per a recent report, India has a potential of about 200 million bee colonies as against 3.4 million bee colonies today. Increasing the number of bee colonies will not only increase the production of bee-related products but will also boost overall agricultural and horticultural products in the region
• It is quite noticeable that KVIC has distributed around 30,000 bee boxes in the North East alone since 2017, thus generating additional employment in honey production for around 3000 educated but unemployed farmers. This year KVIC plans to distribute around 2,500 bee boxes in Arunachal Pradesh while it targets to distribute around 10,000 bee boxes in the next year.
• For the first time since the 1960s, KVIC has also registered 2 new Khadi Institutions-Youth for Social Welfare, Tawang and Rural Development Society, Papum Pare for promotion of Khadi Artisans in the region.

Source: PIB

5) Comprehensive Sexuality Education

• The government of India is implementing the Adolescence Education Programme (AEP) through State AIDS Control Societies in coordination with SCERT using a 16 hours curriculum based module developed by NCERT; for adolescents in both inside and outside formal schools.
• The program aims to empower adolescent learners to acquire knowledge of their needs and concerns related to the period of adolescence and develop life skills that enable them to practice informed and responsible behaviors. Adolescents are equipped with accurate information, knowledge, and skills in the specific contexts of the process of growing up and the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
• Besides this, there is a comprehensive integration of the adolescent health needs and concerns into the school education and teacher education system. The target groups of AEP are all learners studying at the secondary and senior secondary level in government, local body and government-aided schools and learners of open schooling systems. Orientation and sensitization are also provided to identified out-of-school adolescents and youth for awareness regarding life skills education.
• Under the School-based approach of Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), there is an emphasis on preventive and promotive activities among school-going adolescents. A dedicated 24-hour curriculum has been developed which will be rolled out in the country in a phased manner. Two school teachers will be identified and trained as Health & Wellness Ambassadors in every school. They will act as a resource for transacting weekly activity-based health promotion messages in the schools.

Source: PIB

6) Aadhaar Linkage to PDS

• Under Public Distribution System (PDS) reforms, digitization of ration cards/beneficiaries and distribution of highly subsidized foodgrains, namely- Rice, Wheat, and Coarse-grains, to targeted beneficiaries under NFSA through electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices, after biometric/Aadhaar authentication of beneficiaries are key objectives to improve the efficiency and transparency in the distribution process.
• At present, nearly 90% of the total of 23.4 Crore ration cards under NFSA across the country have been seeded with Aadhaar number of at least one member of the household. Linking Aadhaar with ration cards is also dependent on enrolment/generation and delivery of Aadhaar card to beneficiaries. A statement showing State/UT-wise progress of Aadhaar seeding including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh is Annexed. In this connection, as per the notification of this Department dated 08/02/2017 (as amended from time to time) the timeline given to States/UTs for linking of Aadhaar with all ration cards has been extended up to 31/03/2020.
• Further, this Department vide letters dated 24/10/2017 and 08/11/2018 has advised all States/UTs that genuine beneficiaries/households shall not be denied from their entitled foodgrains under NFSA only on the ground of not possessing an Aadhaar number, or due to any technical failure of ePoS device including failure of biometric/Aadhaar authentication of beneficiary owing to network/connectivity/linking issues.
• The Act provides for the distribution of Coarse-grains including millets for distribution to beneficiaries through PDS, however, the distribution of coarse-grains to their beneficiaries depends on the willingness of respective State/UT.
• To sustain the reforms brought in by the scheme on ‘End-to-End Computerization of TPDS Operations’ and to introduce new reforms, the Department in association with States/UTs is implementing another scheme namely “Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS)” w.e.f. April 2018 with a total outlay of Rs. 127 Crore. The main objective of the scheme is to introduce nation-wide portability of ration card holders under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA), through the 'One Nation One Ration Card' system. This system enables the migratory ration cardholders/beneficiaries to lift their entitled foodgrains from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) of their choice in the country by using their existing/same ration card issued in their home State/UT after biometric/Aadhaar authentication on electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices installed at the FPSs. So far this facility is available in 12 States. Further, the integration of remaining States/UTs depends on the readiness of States/UTs to implement the same.

Implementation of One Nation One Ration Card System

• Under PDS reforms, a scheme on “Integrated Management of Public Distribution System (IM-PDS)” is being implemented w.e.f. April 2018 in all States/UTs including Tamil Nadu. The main objective of the scheme is to introduce nation-wide portability of ration card holders under the National Food Security Act, 2013 (NFSA), through the 'One Nation One Ration Card' system. This system enables the migratory ration cardholders/beneficiaries to lift their entitled foodgrains from any Fair Price Shop (FPS) of their choice in the country by using their existing/same ration card issued in their home State/UT after biometric/Aadhaar authentication on electronic Point of Sale (ePoS) devices installed at the FPSs. In this regard, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the implementation of the IM-PDS scheme has been signed with most of the States/UTs including Tamil Nadu.
• Under this initiative, there is no added burden on any State/UT, as the quota of foodgrains distributed to other States’/UTs’ beneficiaries through national portability, shall be periodically reconciled and adjusted between concerned States/UTs. Further, the existing system of foodgrains distribution by States/UTs to own beneficiaries remains the same/ unaltered, as this system intends to largely benefit the migratory beneficiaries under NFSA who frequently change their place of dwelling in search of employment, etc. across the country.

Source: PIB

7) DGFT portal to enable States/ UTs to develop all districts as Export Hub

• The Ministry of Commerce and Industry through Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has been engaging with States/ UTs to initiate preparation and implementation of a District Export Plan (DEP) specific to each district in every State/ UT through an institutional structure at the district level. The institutional structure set up at the district level for implementation of the District Export Plan will be headed by the Chief/ District Development Officer with other relevant District Level Officers as members.
• The DGFT is also developing a portal that may be accessed on the DGFT website to enable the States to upload all information related to the products with the export potential of every district.
• The preliminary exercise for the preparation of a DEP will include an assessment of a district to identify the current export profile and its further potential in the district. All key officers related to agriculture, horticulture, livestock, fisheries, handicrafts, handlooms and industry in the district and also the Lead Bank Manager will work towards the participation of key Export Promotion Councils, Quality and Technical Standards Bodies, Government of India departments like MSME, Heavy Industry, Revenue, and Textiles will be part of the initial meetings. The initial meetings will be held under the Chairmanship of the Chief/ District Development Officer.
• Secretary, Commerce, and Industry held a meeting on 9th December last year with a representative of all States/ UTs in New Delhi to synergize the efforts of the State/ UT Governments with those of the Department of Commerce and DGFT.
• Department of Commerce has mandated the Regional Authorities (RAs) of DGFT to work with the State Governments and District Level Officers including GM-DIC, Lead Bank Managers to promote each district as an export hub. Department of Commerce has also suggested to concerned state agencies including the district administration, District Industries Centres and the local Chambers of Industries to provide the necessary support to this initiative.
• The DGFT RAs will act as a facilitator in promoting each district as an export hub and have drawn up a list where the products with export potential have been identified by them. The identification process is still ongoing.
• The District Export Plan will include the support required by the local industry in boosting their manufacturing and exports with impetus on supporting the industry from the production stage to the exporting stage. Informative material on various incentives provided by the Government of India and the respective State Government of exporters will be disseminated to the industry and other potential exporters. The DEP will also include strategy to enhance logistics and infrastructure at the district level and better utilization of the Market Access Initiative (MAI) Scheme of the Department of Commerce for inviting foreign buyers under reverse buyer-seller meets at the district level, suitably gathering district level commodity and services exports data including through GSTN and Customs ICEGATE System and publishing District Export Matrix for each district quarterly by the State Government. Relevant budgetary support to the DGFT RAs will be provided to make outreach at the district level and prepare DEP.
• State/ UTs Government will be assisted in preparing an annual “Export Ranking Index” of different districts in a particular State/ UT to rank each district on its export competitiveness.
• Nine States/ UTs have notified the constitution of a State Level Export Promotion Committee (SLEPC). The States/ UTs that have notified the constitution of the SLEPC are Delhi, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Tripura, Maharashtra, Goa, and Gujarat.
• To prepare a district-wise export data efforts have been made by DGFT and DGCI&S to look into the feasibility of preparing district level export data from the existing setup. The products identified, which has export potential, from the 750 districts in the country are leather articles, sand and stone articles, spices, garments, wool, food products, ceramics, cement, silk, carpet, glass items, metal crafts, sports goods, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, auto parts, poultry products, vegetables, cut flowers, forest produce, bamboo products and scientific instruments.

Source: PIB

8) Linking Farmers with Markets

• The Government has been working continuously and has taken several concrete steps to link the farmers with the markets to help the farmers in trading their foodgrain. Agricultural marketing is a state subject and wholesale agricultural marketing is undertaken by the network of 6946 regulated wholesale markets, set up under the provision of respective State Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act. 
• To provide better marketing facilities to the farmers, the Government has released a new model “The Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2017” in April 2017 for its adoption by States/Union Territories (UTs). The provisions therein provide for alternative marketing channels other than APMCs to farmers in marketing their produce at competitive & remunerative prices.
• To optimize the use of scarce resources and mitigate the uncertainty in price and marketing, the Government has formulated and released a progressive and facilitative Model Act “The ----State/ UT Agricultural Produce & Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion & Facilitation) Act, 2018” in May 2018 for its adoption by the states/Union Territories (UTs). The aforesaid Model Contract Farming Act covers the entire value and supply chain from pre-production to post-harvest marketing including services contract for the agricultural produce and livestock.
• The Government has implemented the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) scheme an online virtual trading platform to provide farmers with the opportunity for transparent price discovery for remunerative prices for their produce through a competitive online bidding system. So far, 585 wholesale regulated markets of 16 States and 02 UTs have been integrated with the e-NAM platform.
• The Government is implementing Market Research and Information Network (MRIN) Scheme covering 3356 wholesale mandies across the country linked to the Agmarknet portal, wherein Agricultural Produce Market Committees (APMCs) markets are reporting data on mandi arrivals and prices of their traded agricultural commodities on daily basis. The farmers have free access to the Agmarknet portal for getting market price information easily.
• To ensure remunerative prices to farmers for their produce, the Government of India has launched an umbrella scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Annadata Aay SanraksHan Abhiyan’ (PM-AASHA). Under PM-AASHA, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare (DAC&FW), Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India, implements the Price Support Scheme (PSS) for procurement of pulses, oilseeds, and copra. For oilseeds, DAC&FW also implements the Price Deficiency Payment Scheme (PDPS) and Private Procurement Stockist Scheme (PPSS). 
• The Government is also providing marketing facilities to farmers under the schemes of Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY) and Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region (MOVCDNER).
• Price discovery and price risk management are the major objectives of futures markets. Futures contracts of various durations and on multiple commodities are available for trading on these markets/ exchanges. Futures are standardized, exchange-traded contracts for buying/selling a standardized quantity of a particular commodity at a pre-decided price on a future date.
• Farmers and growers can benefit through the price signals emanating from futures markets even if they may not directly participate in the futures market. A farmer can determine the kind of crop which he would prefer to sow and plan his cultivation in advance, by taking advantage of the advance information of the future price trends of alternate crops, and probable supply and demand of various commodities in the future. Farmers can also simultaneously enter into the futures contract of the planted crop at the prevailing futures price thereby locking-in the price at which they can sell the underlying commodity at a specific point of time in the future. In a futures contract, the farmer can deliver the crop directly on the exchange platform, subject to payment of market levies charged by the respective States.
• As per the Fifteenth Report on “The Forward Contracts (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2010” of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food, Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, futures markets also lead to reduction in the amplitude of seasonal price variations and help the farmer realize somewhat better price at the time of harvest or to postpone the sale of his produce, in part or in full, thereby moderating market arrivals as well as the ability of the trader to monopolize price setting.

Source: The Hindu