Why in news?

• Over the past two weeks, California and other parts of the West Coast have been hit with a series of what meteorologists call atmospheric rivers. Forecasters have said that the rain in California on January 12 was caused by a “true Pineapple Express” – a specific example of a common atmospheric phenomenon that resembles a conveyor belt for moisture.

What is the “Pineapple Express” Phenomenon?

• “Pineapple Express” is a specific example of a common atmospheric phenomenon known as atmospheric rivers.
• Also known as “rivers in the sky” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, these are long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that transport most of the water vapor outside the tropics.
• They carry a lot of moisture – enough water vapor to equal or sometimes exceed the average flow of the Mississippi River at the point where it flows into the Gulf of Mexico.
• For an atmospheric river to be classified as a “true Pineapple Express,” its location is the key. The tail end, where the moisture is pulled into the atmosphere, must start near Hawaii. Then the river must stretch continuously through the atmosphere to the U.S. West Coast. This type of atmospheric river is known to bring heavy precipitation to the West Coast, as it is a continuous flow of moisture.
• Atmospheric rivers occur often on the West Coast but can happen in other locations, including the eastern United States, where they often channel moisture from the Caribbean. They are an essential part of the livelihood of coastal states, which rely heavily on precipitation for their water supply. Between 30% and 50% of the annual precipitation on the West Coast occurs from just a few atmospheric river events, according to the NOAA.

 Effects of “Pineapple Express” storms

When the atmospheric rivers are particularly strong – or come back-to-back in what are called “atmospheric river families” – the effects can be serious. This is the case in California, where the recent storms have led to extensive flooding. The “Pineapple Express” can be a double-edged sword, as it brings much-needed water to the state but also leads to destructive flooding if the storms are too strong.

Why in news?

• Setting up of three national level MSCS will help in achieving the goal of ‘Sahakar-se-Samriddhis (Prosperity through Cooperation) through inclusive growth model of cooperatives.

National Multi- State Cooperative Export Society

• Act as umbrella organization for exports of surplus goods/service.
• Primary to national level cooperatives societies including primary societies, district, state and national level federations and MSCS can become its member.
• Higher exports will increase production of goods and services and increase employment opportunities.
• Increased export will promote “Make in India” thus leading to Atmanirbhar Bharat.
• Help cooperatives in getting benefits of export related government schemes/policies.

National Multi- State Cooperative Organic Society

• Unlock demand and consumption of organic products in domestic and global markets.
• Help farmers to get high price of organic product through aggregation, marketing and branding.
• Provide institutional support for aggregation, certification, storage, processing etc.
• Better management of entire supply chain of products.

National Multi- State Cooperative Seed Society

• Act as an apex organization for production, procurement, processing, branding, labelling, packaging, storage, marketing and distribution of quality seeds.
• Develop system for preservation and promotion of indigenous natural seeds.
• Increase seed replacement rate, varietal replacement rate, ensuring role of farmers in quality seed cultivation.
• Quality seeds production reduces dependence on imported seeds, boost rural economy, and strengthen food security.
• Though ‘Cooperative Societies’ is a State Subject, MSCS is regulated by Centre under MSCS, Act 2002.
• MSCS are cooperative societies whose activities are not confined to one state and serve interests of individuals in more than one state.

Why in news?

• Centre has named its new integrated food security scheme for providing free foodgrains to Antodaya Ann Yojna (AM) and Primary Household (PHH) beneficiaries under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013 as PMGKAY.
• It’ll strengthen provisions of NFSA, 2013 in terms of accessibility, affordability and availability of foodgrains for poor.
• It will subsume two subsidy schemes of Department of Food & Public Distribution
• Food Subsidy to FCI: It is in form of consumer subsidy (Difference between Economic cost incurred by FCI and realized Central Issue Price) and buffer subsidy (Cost of holding and maintaining buffer stock).
• Food Subsidy for decentralized procurement states dealing with procurement, allocation and delivery of free food grains to states under NFSA.
• Earlier, scheme with similar name (PMGKAY) was implemented during Covid-19 pandemic.

What is the difference between two schemes?

• Earlier, NFSA beneficiaries were getting food grains entitlement (35 kg per AAY Household and 5 kg per person to PHH) at subsidized rate (Rs 3/kg rice, Rs 2/kg wheat and Rs 1/kg coarse grains).
• Now, government has done away with subsided prices and is providing foodgrains free of cost for an year. However, additional quantity of 5 kg foodgrains will not be provided.

Why in news?

• Scheme aims to promote RuPay Debit Cards and low-value BHIM-UPI transactions (person-to-merchant) in FY 2022-23.

Features of scheme

• Banks would be provided financial incentives for promoting Point of Sale (PoS) and e-commerce transactions using RuPay and UPI.
• Promote UPI Lite and UPI 123PAY as economical and user-friendly digital payments solutions.
  • UPI Lite is an ‘on-device wallet’ feature by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to allow users to make small-value payments (upto 1200) offline.
  • UPI 123PAY is an instant payment system for feature phone (non-smartphone) users.
• In addition, NPCI has allowed Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) with NRE (non-resident external) or NRO (non-resident ordinary) accounts in 10 countries to use UPI platform from their international mobile numbers.
• Member banks have to ensure such types of accounts are only allowed as per extant Foreign Exchange Management Act regulations and RBI rules.
• 10 countries are Singapore, Australia, Canada, Hongkong, Oman, Qatar, USA, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and United Kingdom.
• UPI works on principle of SIM binding for security purposes and till now, it was enabled only for Indian mobile numbers.
  • NRIs demanded enabling UPI on international SIM cards for ease of payment and avoiding use of expensive international cards.

Other information

• UPI is a real-time payment system, launched in 2016 by NPCI. It links multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application.
• NPCI is an initiative of RBI and Indian Banks Association under Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. It is an umbrella organization for operating retail payments and settlement systems in India.
• NRE account helps NRIs transfer foreign earnings to India, while an NRO account helps them to manage income earned in India.

Why in news?

• Report is published annually based on Global Risks Perception Survey.
• It highlights key risks across five categories:
  • Economic,
  • Environmental,
  • Geopolitical,
  • Societal and
• Global risk is defined as possibility of occurrence of an event or condition which, if it occurs, would negatively impact a significant proportion of global GDP, population, or natural resources.
• Global risks ranked by severity over short and long term.

Key findings

• Top 5 risks for India are Digital inequality, Geopolitical contest for resources, Cost-of-living crisis, Debt crises, Natural disasters and Extreme weather events over short and medium term.
• Cost of living dominates global risks in next 2 years while climate action failure dominates next decade.
• Economic after effects of COVID-19 and Ukraine war resulted in rising inflation, rapid normalization of monetary policies, low-growth, low-investment era.
• Technology such as AI, quantum computing and biotechnology, etc. will exacerbate inequalities and digital divide.
• Only 34% of climate finance currently allocated to climate adaptation worldwide.
• Recommendations
  • Investing in multi-domain, cross-sector risk preparedness.
  • Improving risk identification and foresight.
  • Re-building and strengthening global risk preparedness cooperation.

About WEF

• WEF established in 1971 as a not-for-profit foundation and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
• It is International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.

Why in news?

• Report titled ‘Innovation in Plastics, The Potential and Possibilities’ was released by Marico Innovation Foundation and developed in association with Indian Institute of Science and Praxis Global Alliance.
• It examines plastic waste management ecosystem in India to identify 2022, challenges and opportunities with special emphasis on business and technological innovations.

Key findings of report

• India produces 3.4 million tonnes of plastic waste in a year, only 30 percent of it is recycled. Rest of plastic waste is sent to landfills or aquatic dumps.
• Maharashtra, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu together contribute 38 percent to total plastic waste generated in India.
• 94% of recycled plastic waste is shredded in India using mechanical recycling method.
• Impact of plastic waste: Greenhouse gas emissions i.e., carbon dioxide, methane; Contamination of entire food chain due to presence of micro plastics; Threats to animals especially marine species etc.
• Recommendations
  • Landfill and incineration taxes must be levied in India to encourage recycling.
  • Authorise pay-as-you-throw system, which requires citizens to pay a variable rate per kilogram for a bag of mixed garbage.
  • Regulate entire life cycle of plastic bags from manufacturing, imports to disposal.

Initiatives for Plastic Waste Management (PWM)

• PWM Amendment rules 2021 banned use of single use plastic(SUP) from July 2022
• Guidelines on Extended producer responsibility on plastic packaging
• National dashboard on elimination of SUP

• Union government has informed that cadastral maps of 35% of over six lakh villages in country have so far been geo-referenced under Digital India Land Records Modernisation Programme (DILRMP).
• Cadastral Maps are a digital form of land records that show all boundaries of different parts of land pieces based on their length, area, and direction.

About DILRMP

• DILRMP is implemented by Department of Land Resources under Ministry of Rural Development
• It is a Central Sector scheme that has been extended to 2023-24, to complete its original targets as well as expand its ambit with a slew of new schemes.
• 3 Major components:
  • Computerization of land record,
  • Survey/re-survey,
  • Computerization of Registration.

Why in news?

• Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) to procure VSHORAD (Very Short-Range Air Defence System (VSHORAD) missile system.
• It is a Man Portable Air Defence System (MANPADS) designed and developed indigenously by DRDO.
• It is meant to target low altitude aerial threats at short ranges.
• These are lightweight and portable surface-to-air missiles.
• These can be fired by individuals or small groups to destroy aircraft or helicopters.
• Propelled by a dual thrust solid motor, it incorporates many novel technologies including miniaturised Reaction Control System (RCS) and integrated avionics.

Why in news?

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) Survey stated that 15% of dietary supplements were found to be unsafe for consumption.
• Unsupervised consumption of such poor-quality products can affect cardiovascular health and kidneys.

About Food Safety and Standards Authority of India

• FSSAI is under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
• It is an autonomous statutory body established under Food Safety and Standards Act (FM), 2006.
• FSSA 2006 consolidates various acts & orders that had earlier handled food related issues in various Ministries.
• It regulates and monitors, manufacturing, processing, distribution of food while ensuring safe and wholesome food to consumers.
• Headquarters: Delhi.

• The National Academy of Sciences (NASI), India, has awarded the NASI-Platinum Jubilee Young Scientist Award 2022 to Dr Garima Agrawal, a faculty member at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi.
• Garima is an Assistant Professor at the School of Chemical Sciences in the IIT-Mandi.
• She received the annual scientific award in the ‘Chemical Sciences’ category. She was awarded a medal, citation and Rs 25,000.
• The award has been instituted to recognise promise, creativity and excellence among young scientists, who are Indian or Overseas citizens of India and are aged below 35 years.
• It recognises the contributions of young scientists in any branch of science and technology on the basis of work that is carried out in India.