What is Krishi UDAN 2.0 Scheme?

• Krishi UDAN 2.0 lays out the vision of improving value realization through better integration and optimization of Agri-harvesting and air transportation and contributing to Agri-value chain sustainability and resilience under different and dynamic conditions.
• The scheme proposes facilitating and incentivizing the movement of Agri-produce by air transportation.
• We are adopting the model of A2A – Agriculture to Aviation.
• The convergence between the two sectors is possible because of 3 primary reasons –

1. Evolutionary possible use of biofuel for aircraft in future,
2. Use of drones in the agriculture sector, and
3. Due to greater integration and value realisation of agricultural products through schemes like Krishi UDAN.

• The enhanced version of the Krishi UDAN scheme was formulated with support from AAICLAS - a 100% subsidiary of the Airports Authority of India and Invest India, India’s national Investment Promotion & Facilitation Agency, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• It offers full waiver of Landing, Parking, TNLC and RNFC charges for Indian freighters and P2C at selected Airports of Airport Authority of India primarily, focusing on NER, Hilly and Tribal region.
• The Krishi UDAN 2.0 will be implemented at 53 airports across the country mainly focusing on Northeast and tribal regions and is likely to benefit farmers, freight forwarders, and Airlines.
• The Ministry of Civil Aviation plans to be pilot the scheme for 6 months, and, will introduce amendments based on the results of the evaluation & consultations with other stakeholders.

Key Highlights of KRISHI UDAN 2.0:

• Facilitating and incentivizing movement of Agri-produce by air transportation: Full waiver of Landing, Parking, TNLC, and RNFC charges for Indian freighters and P2C at selected Airports of Airport Authority of India. Primarily, focusing on NER, Hilly, and tribal regions.
• Strengthening cargo-related infrastructure at airports and off airports: Facilitating the development of a hub and spoke model and a freight grid. Airside transit and transshipment infrastructure will be created at Bagdogra and Guwahati airports, and at Leh, Srinagar, Nagpur, Nashik, Ranchi, and Raipur airports as a part of a focus on NER, Tribal and Hilly Districts.
• Concessions sought from other bodies: Seek support and encourage States to reduce Sales Tax to 1% on ATF for freighters / P2C aircraft as extended in UDAN flights.
• Resources-Pooling through establishing Convergence mechanism: Collaboration with other government departments and regulatory bodies to provide freight forwarders, airlines, and other stakeholders with Incentives and concessions to enhance air transportation of Agri-produce.
• Technological convergence: Development of E-KUSHAL (Krishi UDAN for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics). Platform to be developed facilitate information dissemination to all the stakeholders. Furthermore, integration of E-KUSHAL with the National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) is proposed.
• Total 53 airports are selected for the first phase of Krishi UDAN 2.0. – the majority of them are operated by AAI.
• The strategic selection of the airports is primarily focused on the northeast region. Additionally covers North, the entire western coast, and southern India (including two islands).
• Airports for implementation of KrishiUdan 2.0 are selected with the aim of providing benefit to the entire country Opted airports not only provide access to regional domestic market but also connect them to international gateways of the country.
• Development of E-KUSHAL (Krishi Udaan for Sustainable Holistic Agri-Logistics). Proposed to develop a platform that will facilitate information dissemination to all the stakeholders. This will be a single platform that will provide relevant information at the same time will also assist in coordination, monitoring, and evaluation of the scheme. Proposed convergence of E-Kushal with National Agriculture Market (e-NAM).
• Facilitating the development of a hub and spoke model and a freight grid (identified locations for cargo terminals)

7 focus routes & products

1. Amritsar – Dubai: Babycorn
2. Darbhanga - Rest of India: Lichis
3. Sikkim - Rest of India: Organic produce
4. Chennai, Vizag, Kolkata - Far East: Seafood
5. Agartala - Delhi & Dubai: Pineapple
6. Dibrugarh – Delhi & Dubai: Mandarin & Oranges
7. Guwahati - Hong Kong: Pulses, fruits & vegetables

Krishi Udan scheme

• Krishi Udan scheme was launched in 2020 to assist farmers in transporting agricultural products so that it improves their “value realization”.
• It was under the Ministry of Civil Aviation
• Every farmer of the country to be the beneficiary of this scheme.
• Benefits: Providing proper market national and international crops in time
• Purpose: To protect the crop of the farmer from ruin and provide maximum value to the farmer.
• Krishi Udan will be launched by the Ministry of Civil Aviation on international and national routes.
• This will immensely help improve value realisation on agricultural products, especially in the north-east and tribal districts
• It will be important to transport the crop of the farmers from one place to another with the help of special planes in time so that the farmer can reach the proper market before the crop gets spoiled.
• As a result, there will be an increase in the income of the farmers, which will help in doubling the income of agriculture announced by the central government.
• Under scheme financial incentives by the central government and the state government in terms of concession from airport operators to select airlines made available.
• Under this scheme bringing perishable things like milk, fish, meat etc. through airplanes is brought to the appropriate market at the earliest.

Click here to read everything about UDAN Scheme.

SFURTI Scheme

• 50 artisan-based clusters were recently inaugurated through the SFURTI Scheme (Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) in 18 States.
• Ministry of MSME is implementing an SFURTI scheme with a view to organizing traditional industries and artisans into clusters to make them competitive and increase their income.
• Ministry of MSME, which aims to support at least one cluster in each district in the future.

• SFURTI clusters are of two types i.e.,

  1. Regular Cluster (500 artisans) with Government assistance of up to Rs.2.5 crore and
  2. Major Cluster (more than 500 artisans) with Government assistance up to Rs.5 crore.

• The artisans are organized into SPVs which can be

  1. Society registered under Societies (Registration) Act, 1860,
  2. Co-operative Society under an appropriate statute,
  3. Producer Company under Section 465 (1) of Companies Act, 2013,
  4. Section 8 Company under the Companies Act, 2013 or
  5. It can also be a Trust.
• Under the Scheme, the Ministry supports various interventions including setting up of infrastructure through Common Facility Centers (CFCs), procurement of new machinery, design intervention, etc.
• Besides, the scheme focuses on strengthening the cluster governance systems with the active participation of the stakeholders.

Marine Pollution

What is Marine Pollution?

Marine pollution is a combination of chemicals and trash, most of which comes from land sources and is washed or blown into the ocean. This pollution results in damage to the environment, the health of all organisms, and to economic structures worldwide. Marine pollution is a part of Water pollution. Click here to read the Water pollution topic.

Sources of Marine Pollution:

• Land-Based Activities: Dumping of hazardous waste, heavy discharges from industry, the inflow of fertilizers and pesticides from Agri fields.
• Pollution from Open exploration: Offshore drilling.
• Marine debris: Sunken ships (w their cargo of hazardous material).
• Shipbreaking: Alang in Gujarat leaves toxic material removed from dismantled old ships.
• Pollution from ships: Accidental oil spills, cleaning process, emissions from engines.
• The inflow of chemicals, solid waste, discharge of radioactive elements, industrial and agricultural effluents, man-made sedimentation, and oil spills.
• The majority portion comes from the land which contributes to 80% of the marine pollution, air pollution also carries pesticides from farms and dust into the marine waters.

Types of marine pollution:

1) Eutrophication.

• The addition of Nutrients (Nitrates, Phosphates) through fertilizer, sewage, etc. into lakes is known as Eutrophication.
• This leads to algal bloom. It reduces the BOD of the lakes.
• The reduced oxygen level leads to new anaerobic conditions which promote the growth of Clostridium Botulinum bacteria.
• It is now also in the Coastal waters and not just Lakes.

2) Oceanic Acidification.

3) Plastics and Microplastics.

1. Plastic includes = Diethylhexyl Phthalate, Cadmium, Lead, and Mercury.
2. Burning of Plastic leads to PCBs (Polychlorinated Biphenyl), Pathogens, Heavy metals in water bodies, Phosgene (COCl2) and Methyl Isocyanate, Dioxins, and Furans.
3. Microbeads = < 1mm. Mainly made of polyethene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyethene terephthalate (PET), Polymethyl Methacrylate (PMMA) and Nylon. Used in cosmetics (exfoliation), toothpaste, and biomedical.

4) Other reasons

Efforts to combat Marine Pollution

• Automated Moorings to reduce Ocean pollution.

  1. Earlier we had to collect water samples from Ocean and then check marine pollution.
  2. Now coz of this new ocean data acquisition system we can obs marine pollution and help understand how the marine system is changing.

• Global Efforts: Marpol, 1973

  3. International Convention for Prevention of Pollution from Ships = Protocol (legally binding) in 1978.
  4. India is a member. It is a treaty on a complete ban on & at sea disposal of plastic.
  5. It has 6 annexures: Oil & Oily Water; Noxious liquid substances; Packaged substances; Sewage from ship; Garbage from ship and Air Pollution from ship.

• BOBLME project

  1. (Bay of Bengal Large Marine Ecosystem) started by FAO in 2009. It gets funding from Global Environment Facility.
  2. It involves all 8 Indian Ocean countries.
  3. Aim is to promote sustainable fishing, reduce marine Pollution and improve coastal livelihood.
• India - Norway Pollution Initiative to combat Marine Pollution, sustainable use of ocean resources and growth in the Blue Economy, beach clean-up efforts, increase awareness and collecting information about Marine pollution.

• UN-led Clean Seas Campaign, 2017

  1. Fight against marine plastic litter. For SDG 12 (sustainable consumption and production); SDG 13 (Climate Change), SDG 14 (Life below water).
  2. It contributed to UNEP Global Programme of Action (GPA).
     • Created through the Washington declaration.
     • To prevent degradation of marine Environment from land-based activities.
     • It is the only global initiative directly addressing the connectivity between the Terrestrial, Freshwater, Coastal and Marine ecosystem.
     • Global Partnership on Marine Litter (GPML) launched in 2012 at Rio +20 in Brazil.
  3. Honolulu's Strategy is related to marine debris.
  4. Nairobi Convention = For West Indian Ocean Region with healthy rivers, coasts & oceans. It is a partnership between Govt, Civil Society Organizations, Private & part of UNEP.

• Ocean Cleanup Project

  1. Ocean currents concentrate plastic in five areas in the world: the subtropical gyres, also known as the world’s “ocean garbage patches”.
  2. The Ocean Cleanup is a non-profit organization, developing advanced technologies to rid the world’s oceans of plastic.
  3. A floating device designed to catch Ocean plastic waste has been redeployed to clean up an island of trash swirling in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. It is part of the Ocean Cleanup Project.