Daily Current Affairs 10 August 2020 | UPSC Current Affairs 2020

 Current Affairs Of Today Are

1) 'Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation' (SMAM)

• The Centre has released $553 crore to States under a scheme to promote mechanization in the agriculture sector. 
• The Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanisation (SMAM) was introduced in April 2014 with an aim to have inclusive growth of farm mechanization to boost productivity. 
• Agricultural mechanization helps in increase in production through timely farm operations and cut in operations by ensuring better management of inputs. Individual farmers are also provided a subsidy for the procurement of machinery.
• National Mission on Agricultural Extension & Technology (NMAET), launched during the 12th plan period (2012 to 2017) .... and still continuing, consists of 4 Sub Missions:

1.Sub Mission on Agricultural Extension (SMAE): 

• The adoption of quality seeds is the most cost-effective means of increasing agricultural production and productivity. Agri Clinics, Agribusiness centers, Kisan Call Centres will be used for providing extension services.

2.Sub-Mission on Seed and Planting Material (SMSP): 

• The Sub-Mission will cover the entire gamut of seed chain from nucleus seed to supply to farmers for sowing. SMSP also envisages strengthening of Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers’ Rights Authority (PPV&FRA) in order to put in place an effective system for the protection of plant varieties, rights of farmers and plant breeders and to encourage the development of new varieties of plants.

3.Sub Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM): 

• There is a strong correlation between farm power availability and agricultural productivity. Therefore, Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization focuses on farm mechanization. The Sub-Mission will mainly cater to the needs of the small and marginal farmers and to the regions where availability of farm power is low to offset the adverse economies of scale and high cost of individual ownership through institutional arrangements such as Custom Hiring Centres, mechanization of selected villages, subsidy for procurement of machines & equipment, etc.

4.Sub Mission on Plant Protection and Plant Quarantine (SMPP): 

• The mission envisages an increase in agricultural production by keeping the crop disease-free using scientific and environment-friendly techniques through the promotion of Integrated Pest Management.

What are 'Custom Hiring Centres (CHC)'?

• CHCs are basically a unit comprising a set of farm machinery, implements, and equipment meant for custom hiring by farmers on the rental basis who could not afford to purchase the high-end agriculture types of machinery and equipment.  Govt. through SMAM is providing funds/subsidy to Rural level entrepreneurs, SHGs, etc. to set up CHCs. 
• The farm power (equipment/machinery) availability for small/marginal land holdings is the lowest in the country which is affecting the productivity of agriculture and farmers' income. As the small/marginal farmers constitute 86%, the potential for CHC, which will cater to the farm machinery requirement, is quite huge in India.  The Sub Mission on Agricultural Machinery (SMAM) is one such initiative towards the objective.

Source: The Hindu

2) Reinsurance

• Air India's crash landing of its flight.
• Air India had purchased insurance (for its aircraft) from the 'New India Assurance Company' (NIAC). Knowing that aircraft are costly and prices varying from Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 800 crores, NIAC understands that if Air India files for any claim in case of aircraft damage (like the present case where it broke into two and can't be repaired), then it will be difficult for NIAC to pay for the damages and in making such huge payments, NIAC may go bankrupt (if few claims come at one go).   
• So, NIAC has again purchased insurance from other company which is basically called reinsurance (or u can say insurance for insurance companies) and the company from which NIAC is purchasing the insurance will be called reinsurer. Reinsurance can be purchased in full or in parts also. In Air India's case, NIAC took only 5% of the risk on its part and for the rest of the 95% value, it had purchased reinsurance.  So, in the case of Air India, 95% of the claim will have to be given by the reinsurance company.
• Coinsurance is the percentage of covered medical expenses you pay. And, the rest is paid by the health insurance plan. For example, if you have an "80/20" coinsurance plan, then it means your plan covers 80% and you pay 20%.

Source: Indian Express

3) Sun’s coronal magnetic field

• An international team of solar physicists has measured the global magnetic field of the sun’s corona, or outer atmosphere, for the very first time.
• This development could help answer some of the solar phenomena.

The temperature profile of the sun:

• The core of the Sun is at a temperature of about 15 million degrees, while its outer layer, the photosphere is only 5700 degrees hot. The sun’s corona or outer atmosphere, which stretches up to several million kilometers beyond its surface, is much hotter than the surface (one million degrees or more).
• This is unusual given that while the surface is cooler than the interior, the atmosphere of the Sun (corona) rises substantially.
• Popular explanations with respect to the coronal heating involve the magnetic field of the corona.

Solar eruptions:

• The surface of the Sun is dynamic. There are multiple mechanisms of eruptions of the Sun, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections.
• A solar flare is a sudden flash of increased brightness on the Sun, usually observed near its surface.
• A coronal mass ejection is a significant release of plasma and accompanying magnetic field from the solar corona.

Magnetic reconnection

• Magnetic reconnection is a process where opposite polarity magnetic field lines connect and some of the magnetic energy is converted to heat energy and also kinetic energy which leads to the generation of heating, solar flares, solar jets, etc.

Source: The Hindu

4) Agriculture Infrastructure Fund 

Prime Minister launched Agriculture Infrastructure Fund yesterday which was approved by the Cabinet one month back. The following are the salient features of the fund.

Agriculture Infrastructure Fund

• Agriculture Infrastructure Fund is a Central Sector Scheme which shall provide medium to long term debt financing facility for investment in viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and community farming assets through interest subvention and financial support. The duration of the Scheme shall be from FY2020 to FY2029 (10 years).
• Under the scheme, Rs. One Lakh Crore will be provided by banks and financial institutions as loans to Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS), Marketing Cooperative Societies, Farmer Producers Organizations (FPOs), Self Help Group (SHG), Farmers, Joint Liability Groups (JLG), Multipurpose Cooperative Societies, Agri-entrepreneurs, Start-ups, Aggregation Infrastructure Providers and Central/State agency or Local Body sponsored Public-Private Partnership Project.
• For all the loans under this financing facility, the Government will provide interest subvention of 3% per annum for loans up to Rs. 2 crores and the subvention will be available for a maximum period of seven years. Further, credit guarantee coverage will be available to borrowers from this financing facility under Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) scheme for a loan up to Rs. 2 crores and the fee for this coverage will be paid by the Government. The total budgetary support from Govt. of India against subvention and guarantee will be Rs. 10,736 crores.

How it will help farmers and boost the Rural Economy:-

• The scheme by way of facilitating formal credit to farm and farm processing-based activities is expected to create numerous job opportunities in rural areas. 
• Storage and processing facilities created through this fund will help farmers get higher prices for their crops as they will be able to store the produce for a long time
• The infrastructure created through this fund will help in reducing wastage and increase processing and value addition
• The scheme would give farmers and the agriculture sector a boost and increase India's ability to compete on the global stage.
• India has huge opportunities to invest in post-harvest management solutions like warehousing, cold chain, and food processing through which it can build a global presence in areas such as organic and fortified foods.

Source: The Hindu

5) COVID-19 induced food insecurity.

• According to a Lancet study of the 10.4 crore under-5 deaths in India in 2017, as many as 7,06,000 deaths could be attributed to malnutrition. On average, every day 1,934 children under five die with malnutrition as the underlying cause.
• There is COVID-19 induced food insecurity.
• An increase in joblessness, a fall in income, and poverty due to the pandemic and the lockdowns will lead to a rise in hunger as well as malnutrition in the country.
• Due to COVID-19 induced food insecurity, malnutrition will only go up.
• The extended lockdown has hit many nutritional services like the ones mandated by the National Food Security Act, 2013.
• There is a need for reverting to pre-COVID levels of investment of resources in nutritional services.
• There is also the need for higher community engagement.
• COVID-19 sensitive strategies must be developed to ensure the continuity of nutritional services.

Source: The Hindu

6) MoD's big push to Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative

• The Department of Military Affairs (DMA), Ministry of Defence (MoD) has prepared a list of 101 items for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timeline indicated against them, as indicated in the attached Annexure.
• The government intends to reach a turnover of $25 billion through indigenously manufactured defense products and also expects to export products worth $5 billion.
• This is a big step towards self-reliance in defense. It also offers a great opportunity to the Indian defense industry to rise to the occasion to manufacture the items in the negative list by using their own design and development capabilities or adopting the technologies designed and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces in the coming years.
• The list is prepared by MoD after several rounds of consultations with all stakeholders, including Army, Air Force, Navy, DRDO, Defence Public Sector Undertakings (DPSUs), Ordnance Factory Board (OFB) and private industry to assess current and future capabilities of the Indian industry for manufacturing various ammunition/weapons/platforms/equipment within India.
• Almost 260 schemes of such items were contracted by the Tri-Services at an approximate cost of Rs 3.5 lakh crore between April 2015 and August 2020. With the latest embargo on the import of 101 items, it is estimated that contracts worth almost Rs four lakh crore will be placed upon the domestic industry within the next five to seven years. Of these, items worth almost Rs 1,30,000 crore each are anticipated for the Army and the Air Force while items worth almost Rs 1,40,000 crore are anticipated by the Navy over the same period.
• The list of 101 embargoed items comprises of not just simple parts but also some high technology weapon systems like artillery guns, assault rifles, corvettes, sonar systems, transport aircraft, light combat helicopters (LCHs), radars and many other items to fulfill the needs of our Defence Services. The list also includes, wheeled armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) with indicative import embargo date of December 2021, of which the Army is expected to contract almost 200 at an approximate cost of over Rs 5,000 crore. Similarly, the Navy is likely to place demands for submarines with an indicative import embargo date of December 2021, of which it expects to contract about six at an approximate cost of almost Rs 42,000 crore. For the Air Force, it is decided to enlist the light combat aircraft LCA MK 1A with an indicative embargo date of December 2020. Of these, 123 are anticipated at an approximate cost of over Rs 85,000 crore. Hence, there are highly complex platforms that are included in the list of 101 items, of which details of three examples are given above.
• The embargo on imports is planned to be progressively implemented between 2020 to 2024. The aim behind the promulgation of the list is to appraise the Indian defense industry about the anticipated requirements of the Armed Forces so that they are better prepared to realize the goal of indigenization. The MoD has adopted many progressive measures to encourage and facilitate ‘Ease of Doing Business’ by the defense Production entities. All necessary steps would be taken to ensure that timelines for production of equipment as per the Negative Import List are met, which will include a co-ordinated mechanism for handholding of the industry by the Defence Services.
• More such equipment for the import embargo would be identified progressively by the DMA in consultation with all stakeholders.
• A due note of this will also be made in the Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) to ensure that no item in the negative list is processed for import in the future.
• In another relevant step, the MoD has bifurcated the capital procurement budget for 2020-21 between domestic and foreign capital procurement routes. A separate budget head has been created with an outlay of nearly Rs 52,000 crore for domestic capital procurement in the current financial year.

Source: PIB

7) First Silk Training cum Production Center

• The far-flung tribal village of Chullyu in Arunachal Pradesh will soon be bustling with spinning and weaving activities with Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) set to open the first of its kind Training cum Production Center of Silk in the state
• Machinery like handlooms, Charkha, Silk reeling machines, and warping drums have already arrived and the installation of machines is in full swing. The first batch of 25 local artisans of Chullyu village has been selected to begin the training with.
• Recently KVIC also distributed 250 honey bee boxes in Chullyu village which has rich flora for production of high-altitude honey. Located on the main highway just 30 km before the most popular tourist spot Ziro, Chullyu is a scenic village known for its eco-friendly ways of living. It is easily approachable by tourists which is an advantage for the local artisans.
• The training cum production center is the first of its kind facility in Arunachal Pradesh and a big boost to weaving activities in the entire region. Training of artisans and supporting the production of Eri Silk, which is indigenous to the North-Eastern states, will create local employment and sustainable development in the region
• The development assumes significance as the tribal population in Arunachal Pradesh, men and women alike, traditionally wear Eri Silk and Khadi Cotton clothes which carries a deep significance to their egalitarian tribal society. However, the people of the state have to buy Silk from outside markets including those in Assam.
• KVIC has also planned design intervention by engaging professional design institutes like NIFT Shillong, NID Jorhat, and even local designers in Arunachal to develop new designs to suit the modern taste of tribal youths.
• KVIC also aims to connect the center with the tourists visiting the Ziro tourist spot and thus providing an assured market to the local artisans for their products. The production center will be equipped to cater to the market demand. For the initial period, KVIC will also provide raw material and expenditure on training and wages and the cost of developing the prototypes of new designs.

Source: PIB

8) 77 new butterfly species in Matheran

• After a long gap of 125 years, scientists have found 140 rare species of butterflies, including 77 new ones, in Matheran. The last time butterflies have codified in this eco­sensitive zone was in 1894, when a researcher identified 78 species
• Finding the forgotten gems: Revisiting the butterflies of Matheran after 125 years’, a research paper by scientists from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) and Somaiya Vidya Vihar University published in the Biodiversity Data Journal, provides a glimpse of the rare butterflies in the hill station.
• Researchers observed a strong seasonal variation in butterfly diversity. The maximum diversity (125) of butterflies was recorded during winter, while the least (80) during monsoon. The high similarity of butterfly species composition was observed between the pairs of sites studied, tending towards perfect nestedness
• The paper has listed the species surveyed between 2011 and 2019.
• the first dedicated checklist for the butterflies of Matheran after J.A. Betham (1894). He listed 78 species of butterflies, combining the list of sixty butterflies provided by Smith (1882) and the list of butterflies recorded by him between April and May 1892
• The team used a barcode system to denote seasons and the activities of the butterflies. 
• They hope this system will help biologists studying butterflies present such data concisely and effectively

Source: The Hindu

9) Anganwadi Services

• Right to Food Campaign has given a memorandum to the Minister for Women and Child Development to resume the provision of hot-cooked meals and ensure implementation of Anganwadi services.

Recommendations:

• The memorandum suggested that Anganwadi services (like community-managed growth monitoring, supplementary nutrition, immunization, etc.) should be delivered either within the daycare centers or at the houses of the beneficiaries.
• It also recommended a comprehensive package of cooked food and dry rations.
• It also sought protective gear for frontline health workers such as Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) and Anganwadi workers.

Background

• Following the nationwide lockdown on March 25, the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) implemented at anganwadis was discontinued.
• It impacted nearly 14 lakh anganwadis and over 8 crore beneficiaries (children under six years and pregnant women and lactating mothers)
• The Ministry of Women and Child Development asked State governments and Union Territories to extend food security allowance to each beneficiary.
• According to the POSHAN COVID-19 Monitoring report for India compiled in June 2020, by UNICEF, World Food Programme and the World Bank, 10 of the 14 most populous States did not conduct community management of acutely malnourished children and eight States were unable to measure growth parameters of children under six years.

Right to Food

• The Right to Food is recognized as a part of Right to Life and Personal Liberty (Article 21) by the National Human Rights Commission.
• The Directive Principles of the State Policy in Article 39a requires the State to direct its policies towards securing that all its citizens have the right to an adequate means of livelihood.
• The National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013, gives the right to food but it is not universal.
• It legally entitles up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to receive subsidized food grains under the Targeted Public Distribution System.
• In People's Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India & Others case (2001), the Supreme Court explicitly established a constitutional human right to food and determined a basic nutritional floor for India's impoverished millions.

Anganwadi

• Anganwadi is a centrally sponsored scheme implemented by the States / UTs which serves as a rural child and maternal care center in India.
• It was started by the Government of India In 1975 as part of the Integrated Child Development Services program to combat child hunger and malnutrition.
• Anganwadi centers provide a package of six services: supplementary nutrition, pre-school non-formal education, immunization, health check-up, nutrition, and health education, and referral services.
• The beneficiaries under the Anganwadi Services Scheme are identified on the basis of Aadhaar.

Way Forward

• At a time when India is battling with Covid-19, it must take into consideration the impact of the pandemic on children and higher food prices in a pandemic, and ensure accessibility to nutrition, growth monitoring, and health services to every beneficiary.

Source: The Hindu

10) Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra

• The Prime Minister will inaugurate Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra (RSK) on 8th August 2020.
• RSK is an interactive experience centre on the Swachh Bharat Mission.
• It will introduce future generations to its successful journey as the world’s largest behavior change campaign.
• It will showcase the core elements of the mission and anecdotes on the journey of the country from Satyagraha to Swachchagrah.
• It will impart information, awareness, and education on Swachhata (sanitation) and related aspects.
• The installations at RSK will include audiovisual immersive shows, interactive LED panels, hologram boxes, interactive games, etc.
• Rashtriya Swachhata Kendra (RSK) was first announced on the occasion of the centenary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi's Champaran Satyagraha.

Swachh Bharat Mission

• Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) or Clean India Mission is a country-wide sanitation campaign launched on 2nd October 2014.
• Objectives: Elimination of open defecation, eradication of Manual Scavenging, modern and scientific municipal solid waste management and bring behavioral change regarding healthy sanitation practices.
• It encompasses two missions:
• Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban): Implemented by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (M/o HUA) for urban areas.
• Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) recently achieved its target of creating Urban India Open Defecation Free (ODF)
• Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen): Implemented by the Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (M/o DWS) for rural areas.
• Recently, SMB(G) completed its Phase-I and its Phase-II was launched.
• Swachh Bharat Mission (G) Phase-I: The rural sanitation coverage in the country has increased from 38.7% to 100%.
• More than 10 crore individual toilets have been constructed since the launch of the mission.
• All rural areas in all the States have declared themselves ODF as on 2nd October 2019.

Way Forward

• Although the goal of making India Open Defecation Free and enhancing Solid and Liquid Waste Management mechanisms has been achieved, the work on sanitation and behavioral changes requires continued efforts to sustain the gains made during the first phase of the campaign.
• It is imperative that the phase-II of SBM focusses on the convergence between different verticals of financing and different schemes of Central and State governments.

Source: PIB