International Workers’ Day, “Vikas Abhaya” Scheme, MGNREGA, e-NAM, MoC
1. Ministry of Coal launches Project Monitoring Unit for facilitating early operationalisation of coal mines
- Ministry of Coal (MoC) launched a Project Monitoring Unit (PMU) for facilitation of early operationalisation of coal mines allocated by the Central Government.
- This is an important step forward to promote Ease of Doing Business as it will hand-hold and support Coal mines allocatees in obtaining timely approval/permissions to operationalise the mines. Shri Anil Kumar Jain, Secretary, MoC addressed the allocatees on the occasion through a video conference and asked them to freely utilise the services of the Consultant in sorting out their issues so that the coal production may begin at the earliest.
- PMU has been launched for helping the allocatees of coal mines in obtaining various clearances required from the Central/State government authorities for operationalization of coal mines. This will lead to ramping up of coal production in the country.
- This move is also expected to go a long way in attracting bidders for the ensuing auction round of commercial blocks. This measure will improve production and business environment in the coal industry.
- Union Minister for Coal: Pralhad Joshi
2. Chhattisgarh gives maximum jobs under MGNREGA amid lockdown
- Chhattisgarh has topped the list of states in terms of providing jobs under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) amid the nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic.
- Union Minister for Rural Development: Narendra Singh Tomar
- Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh: Bhupesh Baghel; Governor: Anusuiya Uikey.
3. The e-NAM platform is moving towards One Nation One Market
- This is for the first time in India that two different e-trading platforms for Agri commodities of this scale will be made interoperable. This will help farmers of Karnataka to sell their produce to large number of traders registered with e-NAM and even farmers from e-NAM mandis in other States will be able to sell their produce to Karnataka traders who are enrolled with ReMS platform of Karnataka. This will also promote inter-State trade between the States on-boarded on e-NAM platform & Karnataka.
- e-NAM has come a long way with 1.66 Crore Farmers & 1.28 lakh traders having been registered on e-NAM platform.
- A path-breaking and revolutionary concept in Agri-sector, the e-NAM online platform has proven to be a giant leap in reforming the agriculture market in India.
- The 200 markets integrated with the e-NAM platform today are as follows: Andhra Pradesh (11 mandis), Gujarat (25 mandis), Odisha (16 mandis), Rajasthan (94 mandis), Tamil Nadu (27 mandis), Uttar Pradesh (25 mandis) & Karnataka (02 mandis).
- This will bring the total e-NAM mandis in the country to 785. This is the first milestone achieved in the path of integrating 415 new markets across the country. It is for the first time that Karnataka State has been added to the list of e-NAM States.
- Already 585 mandis in 16 States and 02 Union Territories have been integrated and are working.
- e-NAM is also integrated from today with the Unified Market Platform (UMP) of Karnataka’s Rashtriya e-Market Services (ReMS), an e-trading platform promoted by the Karnataka State Agriculture Marketing Board. This will facilitate traders across both the platforms to execute seamless trading in both the platforms by using Single Sign On framework.
- In addition, Ministry launched two major modules in e-NAM last month to deal with the COVID-19 situation so that famers can sell their produce without bringing them to mandi. These modules are: FPO module helping farmer members of FPO to trade from their collection center and other being warehouse module whereby farmers can sell their stored produce in WDRA registered warehouses, declared as deemed mandi by States.
- In addition, Ministry has launched recently the “Kisan Rath” mobile App which is helping farmers in finding a suitable transport vehicles/tractor to carry their produce to nearby mandi and warehouse etc.
- The Ministers of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Shri Parshottan Rupala and Shri Kailash Choudhary, Secretary (AC&FW), Shri Sanjay Agarwal, and senior officers of the Ministry participated in today’s programme held through Video Conference.
- Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare : Shri Narendra Singh Tomar
4. First state to bring back its migrant workers
- Jharkhand has become the first state to bring back its migrant labourers through train from Telanagana.
- The special train was deployed between Telangana’s Lingampally railway station and Ranchi’s Hatia railway station on request of the state government.
5. "Vikas Abhaya" Scheme
- Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB), a regional rural bank, Launching the loan scheme ‘Vikas Abhaya’ in Dharwad.
- This loan scheme will be an additional credit facility to the eligible existing micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) borrowers.
- A maximum loan of up to ₹1 lakh will be provided and no collateral security will be insisted upon. The loan is repayable within 36 months.
- Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB), a regional rural bank headquartered in Dharwad.
6. International Workers' Day 1st May
- Labour Day or International Workers’ Day is observed each year on the first day of May.
- The day, also called as ‘May Day’.
- Labour Day is a public holiday in India, where it is celebrated as Antarrashtriya Shramik Diwas (International Labour Day).
- The day is known as “Kamgar Din” in Hindi, “Karmikara Dinacharane” in Kannada,”Karmika Dinotsavam” in Telugu, “Kamgar Divas” in Marathi, “Uzhaipalar Dhinam” in Tamil, “Thozhilaali Dinam” in Malayalam and “Shromik Dibosh” in Bengali. In North India, however, Labour Day has lost significance as a holiday.
