Common Yoga Protocol, ‘Per Drop More Crop’, “Skill India” initiative, Jal Jeevan Mission
1. Common Yoga Protocol
- Every year, the 21st of June is celebrated worldwide as the International Day of Yoga (IDY). This year, the IDY arrives in the middle of a health emergency. Yoga is especially relevant in this situation, since its practice leads to both physical and mental wellbeing.
- Of particular importance in these difficult times are the following two proven benefits which the public can gain from Yoga:
a) Positive impact on general health and immunity enhancement,
b) Its globally accepted role as a stress buster.
- In the previous years, IDY was perceived as a celebration of India’s culture and tradition.
- This year, in these special circumstances, it will be a search for good health and peace of mind.
- Hence the focus this year will be on doing Yoga at home on Yoga Day, i.e., on 21st June 2020.
- The Ministry of AYUSH would be making available various resources in the electronic, digital and other media to facilitate people to learn Yoga using them. Numerous online resources are already made available by the Ministry on the Yoga Portal.
- Common Yoga Protocol (CYP) has been at the heart of IDY since the beginning. CYP was developed by a group of leading Yoga gurus and experts and it includes safe practices to improve physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health of the population.
- It is one of the most popular Yoga programmes across the world and is widely performed every year on the International Day of Yoga.
- It is designed to be easily adoptable by the majority of the people irrespective of age and gender and can be learnt through simple training sessions and online classes (Individuals facing health issues are advised to consult a physician before taking up Yoga practice).
2. ‘Per Drop More Crop' under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY- PDMC)
- The PMKSY- PDMC focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at farm level through Micro Irrigation technologies viz. Drip and Sprinkler irrigation systems.
- Drip micro irrigation technique not only helps in water saving but also in reducing fertilizer usage, labour expenses and other input costs.
- However, Department of Agriculture Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare is implementing ‘Per Drop More Crop’ component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY- PDMC).
- For the current year, annual allotment of Rs. 4000 crore has already been allocated and conveyed to the State Governments.
- Further, Micro Irrigation Fund corpus of Rs. 5000 crore has been created with NABARD.
- The objective of the fund is to facilitate the states in mobilizing the resources for expanding coverage of Micro Irrigation by taking up special and innovative projects and also for incentivising micro irrigation beyond the provisions available under PMKSY-PDMC to encourage farmers to install micro irrigation systems. So far, Micro Irrigation Funds have been released to the states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu for Rs. 616.14 crore and for Rs.478.79 crore, respectively through NABARD.
- The area covered under these projects is 1.021 lakh ha. in Andhra Pradesh and 1.76 lakh ha. in Tamil Nadu.
- During the last five years (2015-16 to 2019-20), an area of 46.96 lakh ha. has been covered under Micro Irrigation through PMKSY-PDMC.
3. "Skill India" initiative
- Skill India is an initiative of the Government of India which has been launched to empower the youth of the country with skill sets which make them more employable and more productive in their work environment.
- Our National Skill Mission is chaired by the Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi himself.
- The Skill Mission launched by the Prime Minister on 15 July 2015.
- For the first time since India’s independence, a Ministry for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE) has been formed to focus on enhancing employability of the youth through skill development.
- Skill India harbours responsibility for ensuring implementation of Common norms across all skill development programs in the country so that they are all standardised and aligned to one object.
- The ITI ecosystem has also been brought under Skill India for garnering better results in vocational education and training.
To give thrust to the “Skill India” initiative of the Government of India, National Fertilisers Limited -NFL a CPSE Under the Union Department Of Fertilisers has started tying up with Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) located near to its plants to train youth in various trades so as to enhance the chances of their employability in heavy and process industry.
The Nangal plant of the company in Punjab has signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ITI, Nangal to train youth in 12 trades.
The students will be skilled under Dual System of Training Scheme under which they will learn theoretical skills in the institute and on-the-job training in NFL Nangal plant.
- ITI, Nangal is one of the oldest institute in Punjab. With the signing of this MoU with ITI, NFL becomes first CPSE to take this initiative in the state of Punjab.
The company plans to explore more such options in future to give impetus to Skill India by training more youth from institutes.
NFL has five gas based Ammonia-Urea plants viz. Nangal & Bathinda plants in Punjab, Panipat plant in Haryana and two plants at Vijaipur at District Guna, in Madhya Pradesh.
4. Implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in Madhya Pradesh during 2020-21
- Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) implemented by Ministry of Jal Shakti in partnership with States aims to provide adequate drinking water of prescribed quality on regular and long-term basis to every rural household of the country by 2024.
- This Mission focusses on ‘service delivery’, not on infrastructure creation.
- The Mission was announced by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in his last Independence Day speech.
- With an objective to bring improvement in lives of rural people and to reduce the drudgery of rural women especially girls, this Mission expects to bring reforms in drinking water sector. A budget of whopping ₹ 3.60 lakh Crore has been allocated for this transformational programme.
- Government of India approved ₹1,280 Crore for implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission in the State in 2020-21. With an amount of ₹244.95 Crore as unspent balance and this year’s Central allocation and matching State share, ₹3,093 Crore will be available with the State this year.
- Under this life changing Mission, Madhya Pradesh has planned to have 100% Functional Household Tap Water Connection (FHTC) by 2023-24.
- Out of 1.21 Crore rural households in the State, 13.52 lakh households are already provided with tap connections. The State plans to provide tap connections to 26.27 lakh households in rural areas in 2020-21.
- While planning for universal coverage of households, priority is given to water scarce areas, quality-affected areas, SC/ ST dominated habitations/ villages, aspirational districts and Sansad Adarsh Gramin Yojana villages, particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups.
- Potable water supply to water quality-affected habitations is a top priority under JJM and the State intends to provide potable water in 395 such habitations by making provision of household tap connections and community water purification plants.
- True spirit of 73rd Amendment of the Constitution, under JJM, local village community/ Gram Panchayats and/or user groups are being involved in planning, implementation, management, operation and maintenance of water supply systems in villages to ensure long-term sustainability to achieve drinking water security.
- In all villages, IEC campaign along with community mobilisation is to be taken up to make Jal Jeevan Mission truly a people’s movement.
- Voluntary organisations, self-help groups are roped in for community mobilisation for their active participation in planning, implementation as well as operation & maintenance of water supply schemes meant for them.
- Under Jal Jeevan Mission, emphasis is being given on water quality surveillance through active participation of frontline functionaries as well as involving the community i.e. in every village, 5 persons especially women are being trained.
- School and college students are being encouraged to use the Field Test Kits to test the quality of water being provided in the rural areas. Every source needs to be tested once every year for physical and chemical parameters and twice for bacteriological contamination.
- State is ensuring convergence of funds from various sources like MGNREGS, 15th Finance Commission Grants to rural local bodies, SBM, CAMPA, District Mineral Development Fund, Local Area Development Fund, etc. for taking up works related to strengthening of water resources, aquifer recharge, grey water management, etc.
- It’s the endeavour of the Government to provide tap connections in rural households on priority basis during prevailing CoVid-19 pandemic situation, so that rural people don’t have to go through the hardship of fetching water from public stand-posts and standing in long queue.
- Government intends that the poor and marginalised sections of the society get water through tap connections inside their house premises and avoid going to stand posts and ensuring social distancing, thereby keeping the rural communities safe from being infected.
- With summer in full swing, monsoons fast approaching, and country grappling with COVID-19 pandemic, it has become more imperative to provide livelihood to the migrant workers who have returned to their native villages.
- These migrants are basically skilled and semi-skilled ones, whose services could be effectively utilised in villages by providing jobs related to water supply especially plumbing, fitting, water conservation works, etc. in every village to ensure sufficient ground water availability leading to water security, water availability for agriculture and most importantly will help in provision of drinking water to every rural household.
5. Mask has hydrophobic surface on the outer layer
- As we know there is no vaccine or drug available to combat novel coronavirus as of now.
- Mask, physical distancing and frequent handwashing are the only ways that can save lives.
- However, team at the School of Biomedical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT-BHU), have developed an anti-microbial five-layered face mask.
- This face mask can annihilate pathogenic microorganisms that are stuck to its outer surface and thereby limit the spread of secondary infections.
- “The mask that is available in the market currently acts as a filter to stop the entry of microbes to oral and nasal airways but does not have any effect on the microbe stuck to the mask surface.
- The first layer of the mask can degrade any type of RNA, the next layer is anti-microbial, the third one is for air filtration, and the fourth and fifth layers are ‘comfortable layers’, which will remain close to the nose and mouth. “Copper and silver are de-transition elements and as per our knowledge they can degrade this virus and all the other members of SARS virus.
- We took a cocktail combination of copper, copper oxides, silver, and activated charged silver, which can help degrade RNA.
- For degradation testing, the researchers took the RNA of lung cells as novel coronavirus propagates rapidly in the lungs.
- The RNA of other cells were also extracted.
- “We have extracted both cancerous and non-cancerous cells too.
- We have checked the degradation of these molecules. We have tested this in solution base and in coating base methods.
- This testing showed that the RNA was getting degraded. After this, we have optimised it,” said the researcher.
- The mask has hydrophobic surface on the outer layer to deflect water droplets containing the viruses. Patent has been applied for the product.
6. “Hidden Treasures of Chhattisgarh” through 30th webinar under Dekho Apna Desh series
Highlighting some of the key facts of the Chhattisgarh states and its immense tourism potential.
- Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh came into being on 1 November 2000 and is 9th largest state in India .
- Being Central Eastern state of India, it borders 7 states, 44% of land covered by forest, 34% of tribal population.
- With 3 National parks, 11 Wildlife sanctuaries, 1 Bio-sphere reserve it is one of India’s greenest state and well connected with rest of the country by air, rail and road network.
- Some of the best waterfalls of country are in Chhattisgarh, few of them are Chitrakote, Amritdhara, Pawai, Machli etc.,
- Chhattisgarh is also blessed with three shaktipeeths Champaranya, Rajim and Sheorinarayan.
- Wrought iron, bell metal and terracotta are famous handicrafts of Chhattisgarh.
- Virtual tour of Bastar shows Bastar is one of the unexplored destinations which is in south of Chhattisgarh.
- Bastar region has spectacular scenic views, roads and hidden waterfalls.
- Bastar region has more than 15 waterfalls. Kotumsar caves, which are largest series of caves after Meghalaya are in Chhattisgarh.
- Bastar Dussehra world’s longest festival which is celebrated for 75 days has a different story related to goddess Dhanteswari. Gond’s, Madiya, Muriaya’s are some of the tribes making Bastar as the land of indigenous tribes.
- Handicrafts history dates back to Harappan civilisation the technique used is lost wax technique. Third largest lord Ganesha statue in the world which made of a single sand stone. Cave paintings with 12000 years of history are in Bastar region.
Karkabhat – Megalithic burial site- Studies conducted in the area have identified 3 types of menhirs- Conical, pointed obliquely and bifurcated like a fish tail.
Dipadih – Temple complex dating back to the 7th Century is probably the best kept archaeological secret of Chhattisgarh. Excavated stone pillars have been erected along the path next to the entrance on which are exhibited the mythological creatures.
Ghotul – It is both an ancient tribal system of education as well as the campus with its own system of hierarchs.
Sonabai– Famous bas relief ornamentation works of Chhattisgarh got its roots when Sonabai made little toys for her son Daroga Ram to lull him to sleep.
Tribal games – Cock fighting
- The National e-Governance Division (NeGD) created by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) has been playing a pivotal role in supporting the Ministry in conducting of the Dekho Apna Desh Webinars by providing technical assistance directly with a professional team thereby ensuring effective citizen engagement and communication with all stakeholders using the digital experience platform.
