About SAMARTH Scheme:

• Government of India launched the “Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector (SCBTS)” which is called SAMARTH, for the entire value chain of textiles except Spinning and Weaving in the organized sector, for a period of three years from 2017-18 to 2019-20.

Objectives:

• To provide demand-driven, placement-oriented National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) compliant skilling programmes to incentivize and supplement the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized textile and related sectors, covering the entire value chain of textile, excluding Spinning and Weaving.
• To promote skilling and skill upgradation in the traditional sectors of handlooms, handicrafts, sericulture and jute.
• To enable the provision of sustainable livelihood either by wage or self-employment to all sections of the society across the country.

The skilling programmes would be implemented through the following Implementing Agencies:

• Textile Industry.
• Institutions/Organizations of the Ministry of Textiles/State Governments having training infrastructure and placement tie-ups with the textile industry.
• Reputed training institutions/ NGOs/ Societies/ Trusts/ Organizations/ Companies /Start-Ups / Entrepreneurs active in the textile sector having placement tie-ups with the textile industry.

Why in News?

• Lalbazar, on the boundary with Jharkhand, is becoming a hub for dokra metalcraft.

About Dokra Metal Crafts:

• Dhokra is a form of ancient bell metal craft practiced by the Ojha metal smiths living in states like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Telangana.
• However, the style and also the workmanship of this artisan community varies in different states.
• Dhokra or Dokra, is also known as bell metal craft.
• Its documented history is about 5,000 years old.
• Making dokra art is a difficult process. Each figurine takes about a month to make.
• Dokra artifacts are mainly made in brass and are highly unique wherein the pieces do not have any form of joints. The whole object is fully handcrafted.
• The traditional designs are considered highly aesthetic in nature and a collector’s delight.

What is the process?

• There are many processes involved, for which seven to eight varieties of clay is required, apart from other raw material.
• The method of making Dokra is done by combining the metallurgical skills with that of the lost wax technique.
• The handicrafts are known for combining the metallurgical skills with wax technique for making artefacts of distinctive look and beauty.
• The lost wax technique is a distinct form where the mould is used only once and broken, which makes the figure one of its kind in the handicraft market.
• There are two process of lost wax casting.
• The first one is Solid casting which is the method followed in the South and hollow casting, practiced in other states.

What is The Urban 20 (U20) Summit?

• It is a city diplomacy initiative launched on December 12, 2017, at the One Planet Summit in Paris.
• Urban-20 (U20) provides a platform for cities from G20 countries to facilitate discussions on various important issues of urban development including climate change, social inclusion, sustainable mobility, and affordable housing, and propose collective solutions.
• C40 Cities (C40) and United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) convene the U20 under the leadership of a Chair city that rotates annually, based in the G20 host country.
• The U20 2023Cycle will be chaired by the City of Ahmedabad.
  • Ahmedabad will showcase its unique urban development and climate change initiatives and rich culture and heritage to the participants.

• India, China and Russia abstained in the United Nations Security Council on a draft resolution that demanded an immediate end to violence and the release of all arbitrarily detained prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi and ex-president Win Myint.
• The 15-member Council has been split on Myanmar for decades and was previously only able to agree on formal statements about the country, which has been under military rule since February 2021. Notably, this is the first-ever resolution on the turmoil-ridden Southeast Asian country.
• India’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Ruchira Kamboj, presiding over the meeting, explained that the complex situation in Myanmar calls for an approach of quiet and patient diplomacy.

• In order to make Uttar Pradesh a trillion-dollar economy, a new ‘Uttar Pradesh Warehousing and Logistics Policy-2022’ has been approved.
• This policy will be effective for the next five years.
• This policy has been made with a view to develop the logistics ecosystem in the state to create an international-level business environment.
• The new policy is to create a strong transport infrastructure network, upgrade and improve existing warehousing and logistics infrastructure, encourage integrated development of logistics services in the state to reduce logistics costs and improve efficiency.
• Under the new policy, there is a provision for fast track land allotment for logistics parks, development of specified logistics zones as well as incentive scheme.
• Under the incentive scheme, the logistics infrastructure facilities are covered under 3 heads which include, one warehousing facilities such as warehouses, silos and cold chain facilities, two logistics parks and dry ports including multimodal parks, inland container depots, container freight stations including air freight stations and three other facilities, such as truck lay-bays, private freight terminals, private berthing terminals and inland vessels, and provision of attractive incentives and incentives.

• The Fukushima disaster of 2011 soured Japan on nuclear energy, leading the island nation to rely less on atomic power and more on imported fossil fuels. But with an intent to hit net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, Japan’s government has recently announced a reversal on its nuclear strategy.
• The new policy is two-pronged: Firstly, it aims to extend the lifespan of Japan’s existing nuclear fleet beyond the current limit of 60 years. Its second object is to build new next-generation plants. These new nuclear plants — variously called “generation 4” or “small modular reactors” — are designed to be cheaper to build and incapable of melting down.
• Last year China became the first country to connect one, a “pebble bed” reactor, to its energy grid. These reactors encase atomic fuel within graphite balls that can withstand more heat than nuclear fission is capable of generating, theoretically making a meltdown impossible. Similar plants are being developed in the US by a company called X-Energy. Meanwhile, Bill Gates-backed TerraPower is building one of its next-gen plants in Wyoming.
• Though approved by a panel, the policy still needs to be submitted to Japan’s Diet parliament. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Liberal Democratic Party holds a majority in both of the Diet’s two houses.
• The turnaround reflects a changing perception of nuclear power over the decades. Nuclear power is among the safest forms of power generation — brown coal kills about 350 times as many people per terrawatt produced as nuclear, primarily through pollution — but has been criticized for its impacts on local environments.
• As the threat of climate change looms larger, and governments attempt to live up to net-zero commitments, atomic energy has become more appealing. Building new plants is costly, especially so in the US due to a more complicated legal framework, but nuclear energy itself emits next to no carbon.
• In the decade prior to Fukushima, Japan was getting over 40 gigawatts of power from its nuclear plants, according to the World Nuclear Association. Following a decade of stripping back on the nuclear program, that had fallen to 18 gigawatts in 2021. The void left by nuclear energy was filled by gas and coal.
• At its peak, at the turn of the century, nuclear energy was providing 30% of Japan’s electricity. That’s fallen to just below 7% in 2021.
• The strategy unveiled is part of Japan’s plan to have nuclear power account for 20% to 22% of its electricity mix by 2030.

Nuclear Energy in India:

• Nuclear power is the 4th largest source of electricity in India after thermal, hydroelectric and renewable sources of electricity.
• Approximately 2.5% of India’s energy requirements are met through nuclear energy.
• India has 22 nuclear reactors in operation in 7 nuclear power plants, having an installed capacity of 6780 MW.
• Till 2009, India was excluded from global nuclear trade as it was a non-signatory of the Nuclear Non-proliferation treaty due to its nuclear weapons program.
• This was a hindrance to the development of India’s Civil Nuclear energy program.

Why in News?

• Under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the claims paid to the farmers have dropped by 48.7 per cent in the current year.
• In a surprise to the experts, this decline, in the farmer’s claims, has been registered despite the overall rise in farmer’s enrolment in the scheme this year.
• According to the government, the scheme had already become the number one crop insurance scheme in the world in terms of farmer applications enrolled. In terms of gross premium, the scheme is the third largest in the world.
• The PMFBY is the scheme that provides the farmers their comprehensive risk insurance against crop damage owing to the non-preventable natural risks.
• Devinder Sharma, agriculture expert, said farmers seemed to have lost faith in the scheme. He said, “The problem is that the loss is evaluated at village level rather than individual cases.”

What is Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana?

• About:

• • Launched in 2016 and is being administered by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.
  • It replaced the National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
  • The risk is counted from pre-sowing to post-harvest for the crops/areas notified by the concerned state government.

• Eligibility:

• • Farmers including sharecroppers and tenant farmers growing notified crops in the notified areas are eligible for coverage.

• Objectives:

• • To provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crops as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases.
  • To stabilize the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.
  • To encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices.
  • To ensure the flow of credit to the agriculture sector.

• Premium:

• • There will be a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for all Kharif crops and 1.5% for all Rabi crops.
  • In the case of annual commercial and horticultural crops, the premium to be paid by farmers will be only 5%.
  • The premium rates to be paid by farmers are very low and the balance premium will be paid by the Government to provide full insured amount to the farmers against crop loss on account of natural calamities.
  • There is no upper limit on Government subsidies. Even if the balance premium is 90%, it will be borne by the Government.
    • Earlier, there was a provision of capping the premium rate which resulted in low claims being paid to farmers.
    • This capping was done to limit Government’s outgo on the premium subsidy.

This capping has now been removed and farmers will get a claim against the full sum insured without any reduction.

• It is a statutory authority established under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019 (“IFSCA Act”).
• Mandate: To develop and regulate the financial products, financial services, and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centres (‘IFSC’).
• The IFSCA aims to develop a strong global connection and focus on the needs of the Indian economy as well as to serve as an international financial platform for the entire region.
• Before the establishment of IFSCA, the domestic financial regulators, namely, RBI, SEBI, PFRDA and IRDAI regulated the business in IFSC.
• GIFT-IFSCis the maiden IFSC in India.

Who are the Members of the IFSCA?

• The International Financial Services Centres Authority consist of nine members, appointed by the central government.
• They will include the chairperson of the authority, a member each from the RBI, SEBI, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority, and the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority.
• Two members from the Ministry of Finance. In addition, two other members will be appointed on the recommendation of a Selection Committee.
• Term: All members of the IFSC Authority will have a term of three years, subject to reappointment.

• As many as 60 youth will be trained under the 14 days Aapda Mitr Abhiyan at Kaza in Lahaul and Spiti.
• The training will be held under the joint auspices of the sub-centre of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Mountaineering Institute at Jispa and the District Disaster Management authorities.
• The district administration is organising the programme to prepare local youths to lead rescue operations effectively during disaster-like situations to save human lives and property.
• It is for the first time that the institute’s sub-centre is imparting this type of training to the local youth at
• The trained youth will be called disaster friend (Aapda Mitr).
• These volunteers will render services to the Disaster Management Authority during any emergency and play an important role in saving human lives and property.”
• Training is being imparted to the youth will make them capable to lead rescue operations during disasters like floods, earthquakes, landslides and cyclones.

• Rising Covid cases in China may once again trigger a shortage of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in India, which imports over 65 per cent of APIs from the neighbouring nation.
• Though there is no visible impact on API prices or supplies in the Asia’s pharmaceutical hub of Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh (BBN) as well as the Paonta Sahib-Kala Amb belt, there is a sense of fear in the industry.
• Reason: The earlier Covid waves had severely crippled the manufacturing operations amid curtailed imports from China.
• “The manufacturers have already started procuring whatever supplies are available in the market. Traders are again trying to exploit the situation. Some commonly used products have become dearer by 15-20 per cent,” says a unit owner from Baddi.
• The manufacturers opine the impact of curbs in China would be visible in the next about a fortnight. There is, however, a tendency of hoarding, which leads to artificial shortage, they say.
• To cut dependence on China, the Centre has approved a bulk drug park in the Una district of Himachal Pradesh, but it will take at least three years for API producers to start manufacturing here.
• BK Sikri, chairman, Federation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs, said, “There is no reason to panic as Indian API producers, who invested under the production-linked incentive scheme, are now manufacturing 35 of the 53 APIs for which India has 90 per cent import dependence.” He ruled out any immediate shortage of APIs and other key ingredients and said they were closely monitoring the situation.
• The state has about 650 pharmaceutical units, including 15 approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and 180 by the WHO.