Trade Facilitation Mobile App by DGFT

Union Minister of Commerce and Industry has launched the Directorate General of Foreign Trade’s (DGFT) Trade Facilitation Mobile Application.

About Trade Facilitation Mobile Application:

•  Tata Consultancy Services(TCS) developed the Trade Facilitation Mobile Application. It is as per the directions of the Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT).
• It aims to promote ease of doing business by providing quick access to information to importers/exporters.
• The application will provide the following facilities:
  • Real-time trade policy updates and event notifications.
  • It provides options to explore Export-Import policies and statistics.
  • Virtual Assistance to trade-related queries.
  • It provides access to all the services provided by DGFT.
  • Raise and track help requests in real time.
• Tech-enabled governance will play a major role in determining India’s competitiveness, in the post-Covid world.
• Thus, Initiatives like this will significantly contribute to the achievement of India’s export target of $1 trillion by 2025 and GDP target of $5 trillion.

About the Directorate General of Foreign Trade(DGFT).

• The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) was established in 1991.
• It is an attached office of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• It is responsible for formulating and implementing the Foreign Trade Policy with the main objective of promoting India’s exports.
• Headquarters: New Delhi

E-SANTA Marketplace

The Union Commerce and Industry Minister recently virtually inaugurated e-SANTA.

About e-SANTA:

• e-SANTA stands for Electronic Solution for Augmenting NaCSA farmer’s trade in Aquaculture.
• e-SANTA is an electronic marketplace providing a platform to connect aqua farmers and buyers.
• The platform will also act as an alternative marketing tool between farmers & buyers by eliminating middlemen.

Benefits of e-SANTA Platform:

• Enhances the life of Farmers: The platform will improve the lives & income of farmers by:
  1. Reducing Risk
  2. Awareness of Products & Markets
  3. Increase in Income
  4. Shielding Against Wrong Practice
  5. Ease of Processes.
• Promotes Transparency: The platform promotes transparency as the process is completely paperless and an end-to-end electronic trade between Farmers and exporters.
• Greater Control: The farmers have the freedom to list their products and quote their price. While the exporters have the freedom to list their requirements and also to choose the products based on their requirements.
• The platform is available in many languages which will help the local population.

About National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture(NaCSA):

• National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture is an extension arm of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), Ministry of Commerce & Industry Govt. of India.
• The objectives of NaCSA are to encourage and uplift the small and marginal farmers through the organization of clusters and maintaining Best Management Practices in shrimp culture.

PM Matsya Sampada Yojana

It is a flagship scheme for focused and sustainable development of the fisheries sector in the country as a part of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

It aims to:

• Adopt ‘Cluster or Area-based Approaches’ and create fisheries clusters through backward and forward linkages.
• Focus especially on employment generation activities such as seaweed and ornamental fish cultivation.
• Address critical gaps in fish production and productivity, quality, technology, post-harvest infrastructure and management, modernisation and strengthening of the value chain, traceability, establishing a robust fisheries management framework and fishers’ welfare.
• Consolidate the achievements of the blue revolution and bring new interventions such as fishing vessel insurance, support for new/up-gradation of fishing vessels/boats, integrated aqua parks, e-trading/marketing, etc.

Targets:

• Enhance fish production by an additional 70 lakh tonnes and increase fisheries export earnings to Rs.1,00,000 crore by 2024-25.
• Double the incomes of fishers and fish farmers.
• Reduce post-harvest losses from 20-25% to about 10%.
• Generate an additional 55 lakhs of direct and indirect gainful employment opportunities in the fisheries sector and allied activities.

Budget and Time Period:

• An estimated investment of Rs. 20,050 crores for a period of 5 years from financial year (FY) 2020-21 to FY 2024-25 in all States/Union Territories.
• This investment is the highest ever in the fisheries sector yet.

Implementation: It will be implemented as an umbrella scheme with two separate components namely:

• Central Sector Scheme: The project cost will be borne by the Central government.
• Centrally Sponsored Scheme: All the sub-components/activities will be implemented by the States/UTs and the cost will be shared between Centre and State.

Online Grievance Management Portal for Scheduled Castes by NCSC

National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) recently launched an Online Grievance Management Portal for Scheduled Castes .in the country

About Online Grievance Management Portal:

• The Portal will allow submission of complaints about atrocities against the Scheduled Castes. The portal also allows users to track the progress of their complaints.
• It was developed in collaboration with the Bhaskaracharya Institute for Space Applications and Geoinformatics(BISAG-N), a Centre of Excellence under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology(MeitY).

About the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC).

• National Commission for Scheduled Castes(NCSC) is a constitutional body.
• It was set up under Article 338 to safeguard the interests of the scheduled castes(SC) in India.

Evolution of the NCSC:

• Originally, Article 338 of the Constitution provided for the appointment of a Special Officer for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs).
• The special officer designated as the Commissioner for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.
• In 1978, the Government (through a Resolution) set up a non-statutory multi-member Commission for SCs and STs.
• The Office of Commissioner for SCs and STs also continued to exist.
• In 1987, the Government (through another Resolution) modified the functions of the Commission and renamed it the National Commission for SCs and STs.
• Later, the 65th Constitutional Amendment Act provided for the establishment of a high-level multi-member National Commission for SCs and STs. It replaced the single Special Officer for SCs and STs.
  • This constitutional body replaced the Commissioner for SCs and STs as well as the Commission set up under the Resolution of 1987.
• Again, the 89th Constitutional Amendment Act of 2003 bifurcated the combined National Commission for SCs and STs into two separate bodies namely:
  • National Commission for Scheduled Castes (under Article 338) and
  • National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (under Article 338-A).

Composition:

• The National Commission for SCs consists of a chairperson, a vice-chairperson, and three other members.
• They are appointed by the President by warrant under his hand and seal.
• The President also determines their conditions of service and tenure of office.

Functions of NCSC:

• To investigate and monitor all matters relating to the constitutional and other legal safeguards for the SCs and to evaluate their working;
• To inquire into specific complaints with respect to the deprivation of rights and safeguards of the SCs;
• Also, to participate and advise on the planning process of socio-economic development of the SCs and to evaluate the progress of their development under the Union or a state;
• To present the report on working of those safeguards to the President, annually.

Digital Repository on Health, Nutrition- Poshan Gyan- Released

NITI Aayog has launched a platform named “Poshan Gyan”.

About Poshan Gyan:

• Niti Aayog launched Poshan Gyan in partnership with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Centre for Social and Behaviour Change, Ashoka University.
• It is a National Digital Repository on health and nutrition.

Key Features:

1. It is a comprehensive online resource for anybody working in the nutrition sector in India.
2. It is a collection of effective communication materials created by the government and other development organizations.
3. It will also help in knowledge awareness and behaviour change in the nutrition sector.
4. Moreover, the materials cover a range of topics, such as antenatal care, complementary feeding, adolescent health, diet diversity, and anaemia prevention among others.
5. It allows anyone to submit communication material for inclusion on the website followed by a review by a designated committee. Thus, the repository also has a unique crowdsourcing feature.

Poshan Abhiyaan

Poshan Abhiyaan, also known as the National Nutrition Mission (NNM), was launched in 2018 (although the programme was implemented in 2017) by the Government of India with the aim of tackling the malnutrition problem prevalent in India.

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