The 9^th Women Science Congress (WSC) organised as part of the Indian Science Congress (ISC) at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore showcased the achievements of women scientists and motivated young women to actively participate in science to identify and find simple solutions to a range of problems through Science and Technology.

Dr. Tessy Thomas, Director General, Aeronautical Systems, DRDO highlighted the remarkable contributions of renowned women scientists like Marie Curie, Kadambini Ganguly, Rajeshwari Chatterjee and Kiran Kiran Mazumdar Shaw and their participation in the overall development of the country through S&T.

She encouraged the young women to learn from the exemplary courage of eminent women scientists who had overcome several hurdles to contribute to science.

The event which was inaugurated at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Bengaluru on 5^th January highlighted opportunities that can help women overcome the hurdles they face because of their gender in the pursuit of Science.

Dr. Trilochan Mohapatra, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education & Director General, ICAR strongly emphasised that women need to be brought into the mainstream of national development.

He pointed out that girls should be inspired at the home, school and college levels. He mentioned about gender bias at home, which is a behavioural problem that needs to change. He asked to WSC to deliberate and delve deep on these issues and bring out recommendations.

Dr. Namita Gupta, Scientist ‘G’, Department of Science and Technology highlighted the DST schemes especially for women. “Women are applying in large numbers to utilise schemes like ‘KIRAN’ available for women and they are benefiting immensely,” she added.

KIRAN (Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing) is the women-exclusive scheme of DST with the mandate to bring gender parity in S&T through gender mainstreaming. Different programs and components of KIRAN like Women Scientist Scheme-A (WOS-A), Women Scientist Scheme-B (WOS-B) deal with various crucial issues (break in career primarily due to family responsibilities, self employment, part time career, relocation and so on) faced by women scientists in their career path.

The women’s science congress, an important platform for participants to share their knowledge and learn from each other, is one of the main events in 107^th Indian Science Congress, which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister, Narendra Modi on January 3, 2020.

Renowned women scientists are showcasing their work and delivering lectures at this two-day event with the aim to empower young women and to inculcate scientific interest and temper among them.

 

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Launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on January 5th, 2015, the Government of India’s zero subsidy Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) and LED Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), marked its fifth anniversary today.

SLNP is the world’s largest streetlight replacement programme and UJALA is the world’s largest domestic lighting project. Both have been spearheaded and implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL), a joint venture of PSUs under the Ministry of Power, Government of India.

Under the SLNP programme, over 1.03 crore smart LED streetlights have been installed till date, enabling an estimated energy savings of 6.97 billion kWh per year with an avoided peak demand of 1,161 MW and an estimated greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction of 4.80 million tCO2 annually. LED streetlights have been installed in various states across the country, helping generate approximately 13,000 jobs to support GoI’s Make in India initiative.

Through the UJALA initiative, over 36.13 crore LED bulbs have been distributed across India. This has resulted in estimated energy savings of 46.92 billion kWh per year, avoided peak demand of 9,394 MW, and an estimated GHG emission reduction of 38 million t CO2 annually.

With the concerted efforts towards building a robust ecosystem for LED in India, these programmes have bagged global awards like the prestigious South Asia Procurement Innovation Award (SAPIA) 2017 and for the innovative use of IT and the business results achieved in Street Lighting National Programme (SLNP), it won 2019 CIO 100 award. The highly successful UJALA and SLNP have also bagged the Global Solid State Lighting (SSL) award of excellence for the transformational contribution to the LED sector.

UJALA project brought the market transformation in energy efficiency sector. Prices of LED bulbs being distributed under UJALA programme have fallen to one-tenth of their rates in 2015 from INR. 310 to INR 38 in 2018. The switch from inefficient incandescent bulbs to LEDs is helping families reduce their electricity bills while also enabling them to access better brightness in homes. The money saved adds to a household’s disposable income and lifetime savings, thus improving their quality of life, generating prosperity in local communities, and in expanding energy access to all. With the average household electricity bills down by 15 per cent, the annual energy saving is equivalent to a week’s average earning. The sale of LED bulbs in the Indian market increased from 0.1 per cent of the lighting market in 2014 to 15 per cent within a year, with a projected increase to 60 per cent by 2020. The domestic LED market has also grown significantly beyond the UJALA programme, with the industry selling over 1.15 billion LEDs, far exceeding the UJALA programme’s target of 700 million LED unit sales.

Apart from this, the Government of India initiated the Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA) in 2018, which was aimed at promotion of social harmony by apprising rural communities of various government welfare schemes and initiatives. As a part of GSA, 21,058 Indian villages with a significantly large number of poor households were able to buy LED bulbs for a special price under UJALA programme. The LED bulbs equipped homes with energy-efficient, cost-effective lighting, and higher lumen output than conventional incandescent bulbs.

Simultaneously, LED Street Lighting National Programme has enabled citizens to increase productivity at night and made roads safer for pedestrians and motorists due to enhanced brightness and reduced dark spots. The power utilities of states where the installation of LEDs has been implemented save up to 50 per cent in electricity bills, while ensuring 95 percent of streetlight uptime. As these lights are automated, they switch on and off at sunrise and sunset thereby reducing wastage. Utilities can also remotely track and rectify any faults with support of CCMS. In the last five years, the LED streetlights installed have illuminated 3,00,000 km of roads in India, enabling public safety and energy efficient lighting.

Functioning of Gram Panchayats (GP) has a direct impact on the everyday life of millions of rural people. Hence, the role of GP is critical for overall inclusive development and for deepening democracy through participatory governance. The estimated number of streetlights in GPs of India is 3.08 crores, by retrofitting these 3.08 crores conventional streetlights to LED streetlights can enable energy savings of approx. 3420 Million kWh & CO2 emission reduction of approx. 29 lakh tons. Till date, under Street Lighting National Programme, approx. 23 lakhs LED streetlights have already been retrofitted in the Gram Panchayats in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Goa and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

By March 2020, SLNP aims to replace 1.34 crore conventional streetlights in India with smart LEDs. This ambitious goal will make a tremendous difference, enabling peak demand reduction of about 1500 MW, annual energy savings of 9 billion kWh, and reduction in 6.2 Million tons of CO2 per year.  EESL has an ambitious plan in this portfolio for next 4-5 years where it intends to bring investment to the tune of INR 8,000 crores by 2024 by covering entire rural India. It is expected that more than 30 million LED streetlights would be retrofitted/installed by EESL.

 

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The deliberations of the three-day training programme on Capacity Building conducted by Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) in collaboration with National Institute for Financial Management (NIFM), National Centre for Good Governance (NCGG) and Institute of Management, Public Administration and Rural Development (IMPARD)  concluded here today with Government e-Marketplace (GeM) remaining focus of speakers on day three. 

Chairing the valedictory session, Advisor to Lt. Governor, J&K, Shri Farooq Khan called upon the officers to get maximum benefit out of today’s session on GeM so that the public exchequer could be used genuinely. He exhorted that if Govt. purchase is done properly and timely, it would serve the basic purpose of the welfare of the people. He also complemented DARPG, NIFM, NCGG and IMPARD for organising such event. 

Speaking during the practical session on procurement through GeM, Joint Secretary, Govt. of India, Ministry of Commerce and Chief Finance Officer, GeM, Shri Rajeev Khandpal said that this Capacity Building Programme will give more exposure to the officials of J&K regarding General Financial Rules (GFR) and other financial matters while dealing with their day to day administrative and financial work.

Commenting on ‘GeM Samvaad’, an outreach programme launched by the Government of India, Shri Rajeev Khandpal said that ‘GeM Samvaad’ has been launched by the Govt. of India with an aim and objective to get an onspot feedback from all the States and UTs regarding GeM. He added that by this outreach programme, senior officials of GeM will visit all States and UTs to get feedback on how GeM portal can be made more user friendly. The Governments of different States and UTs can save upto 25% of public exchequer by procuring various departmental equipments throgh GeM, he added.

During the afternoon session, Business Facilitator, GeM, Shri Kush Tyagi delivered a presentation on ‘Introduction to Functionality of Buyer’ which highlighted the a pre-requisities for registration as primary and secondary user on GeM portal. The speaker gave an onspot demonstration on how to register as a buyer on GeM portal to the officials of J&K. 

Earlier during the morning session, a detailed and an insightful presentation on GeM was delivered by Director, GeM, Shri Deepesh Gehlot highlighting the procedure of registration on GeM portal. He also explained the mechanism of procurement on GeM portal to the participating officials. 

On January 3, the three day Capacity Building Programme was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State, PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh in presence of Chief Secretary, Union Territory of J&K, Shri BVR Subrahmanyam, Additional Secretary, DARPG, Shri V Srinivas and Finance Commissioner, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta.

During the three day programme, various technical sessions were held on wide ranging issues like GFR-2017 and Procurement of Goods, Manual for Procurement of Goods-2017, Outsourcing of non-consultancy services, Hiring of Consultancy Services, Manual for Works 2019, GeM: an introduction and registration process and procurement through GeM. The trainers had a threadbare discussion on the subjects they spoke about. They elaborated the contents of their topic with respect to the relevant sections of the GFR.

As a part of the conference, several interactive sessions were held in every module to provide participants an opportunity to attain better understanding of various topics covered in the programme.

Pertinently, the programme was held with an aim to promote good governance practices and evolve transparent public policy in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370. Around 385 senior high level officers of J&K Government participated in the three-day Capacity Building Programme.

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Union Minister of Information & Broadcasting, Shri Prakash Javadekar will confer the first ‘Antarrashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman’, in New Delhi on 07^th of January, 2020.

Acknowledging the positive role & responsibility of media in disseminating the outreach of Yoga in India and abroad, the Ministry of I&B had instituted the first Antarashtriya Yoga Diwas Media Samman (AYDMS) in June, 2019 to mark the contribution of media in spreading the message of Yoga.

 

The Samman to be conferred on Media Houses would be given under the following categories:

• Thirty (30) Sammans under Three (3) categories will be conferred.
• Eleven Sammans to be conferred under the category “Best Media Coverage of Yoga in Newspapers.
• Eight Sammans to be conferred under the category “Best Media Coverage of Yoga in Television.
• Eleven Sammans to be conferred under the category “Best Media Coverage of Yoga in Radio.

The Samman will comprise of a special medal/plaque/trophy and a citation. The contribution of Media in popularizing of Yoga and the entrieswas assessed by a Jury comprising of 6 members and was headed by Justice C. K. Prasad, Chairman, Press Council of India.

Brief on International Day of Yoga

The International Day of Yoga has been celebrated annually on 21 June since 2015. The idea of International Day of Yoga was first proposed by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, during his address at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), on 27 September 2014.

While proposing the idea the Prime Minister stated:

“Yoga is an invaluable gift of India’s ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help in well being. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day.”

Following this initial proposal, the UNGA held informal consultations on the draft resolution, entitled “International Day of Yoga”, on 14 October 2014. The consultations were convened by the delegation of India.On 11 December 2014, India’s Permanent Representative introduced the draft resolution in the United Nations General Assembly. The draft text received broad support from 177 Member States who sponsored the text, which was adopted without a vote. This initiative found support from most global leaders. A total of 177 nations co-sponsored the resolution, which is the highest number of co-sponsors ever for any UNGA resolution of such nature.

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GK

The Agri Export Policy was announced last year with an objective of doubling the export and ensuring doubling of farmers’ income. In order to achieve this objective, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) has been adopting a focused approach for ensuring greater involvement of the State governments for effective implementation of Agri Export Policy (AEP). Throughout the year APEDA held a series of meetings with the State Government officials and other stakeholders for the preparation of State Action Plan which included all essential components like production clusters, capacity building, infrastructure and logistics and R & D and budget requirements for the implementation of AEP. Several rounds of discussions were held with Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying, Ministry of Food Processing Industries and other agencies under Line Ministries for seeking the inputs for formulating a strategy to increase exports and address the existing bottlenecks in the trade.

Many States have nominated Nodal agency and Nodal officer. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Nagaland, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Punjab and Karnataka have finalized the State Action Plan and other States are at different stages of finalization of the action plan.

State level Monitoring Committees have been formed in many of the States. Cluster visits have been made by APEDA Nodal officers to the product clusters at Jalandhar (Potato), Jodhpur (Isabgol), Banaskantha (Dairy products), Sangli (Grapes), Solapur (Pomegranate), Nagpur (Orange), Chittoor (Mango), Theni (Banana), Salem (Poultry products), Indore (Onion) and Chikkaballapur (Rose onion). The roadmap for cluster development in the clusters notified under AEP was prepared to address the identified interventions during the cluster visits. As a result of cluster visits by APEDA, the cluster level committee has been constituted in the States viz. Potato in Punjab, Isabgol in Rajasthan, Pomegranate, Orange and Grapes in Maharashtra and Banana in Tamil Nadu.

APEDA has organised a number of seminars and meetings for the implementation of Agri Export Policy throughout the year. A workshop on the role of state nodal agencies in agriculture exports was organised in New Delhi on 3rd September, 2019 where majority of the states actively participated for brainstorming on implementation of AEP in States.

An MoU was signed with National Cooperative Development Corporation to include Co-operatives for their active role in AEP. A Farmer Connect Portal has also been set up by APEDA on its website for providing a platform for Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) to interact with exporters. Over 800 FPOs have been registered on the portal.

Buyer Seller Meet (BSM) cum Workshops between exporters and FPOs were organized in association with the State Nodal agency at Ujjain (M.P)., Mehboobnagar, Mahbubabad, Sangareddy (Telangana), Kandhamal (Odisha), Chitradurga (Karnataka), Shillong (Meghalaya), Shimla (H.P), Kadapa (Andhra Pradesh), Kolkata (West Bengal), Agartala (Tripura), Nagpur, Sangli (Maharashtra) and Dehradun (Uttarakhand).

A Market Intelligence Cell was set up in APEDA and the activity of dissemination of e-market intelligence reports comprising detailed market analysis, international trade issues, current scenario of the interest to Indian exporters in important markets and statistical information has been started from 25th November 2019. All e-reports are available on APEDA website https://apeda.gov.in. Till now 27 reports have been disseminated for mango, basmati rice, non-basmati rice, groundnut, grapes, gherkins, dehydrated onion, pomegranate, banana, potato, buffalo meat, swine meat, fresh cut flowers, wine, egg, dairy products (SMP & cheese), biscuits, jaggery, millets, vegetable seeds, moringa, makhana, fruit juices, mango pulp, potato flakes and cereal preparations.

 

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