Financing for Compressed Bio-Gas plants to be brought under Priority Sector Lending

Context

• The Government is in the process of including Compressed Bio-Gas under Priority Sector Lending. 
• Shri Pradhan, along with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, inaugurates CBG Plant at Namakkal in Tamil Nadu and CBG Fuel Stations.
• He further added that Central Financial Assistance or Subsidy for setting up CBG plants has been extended to 2020-21 to promote new projects.

About SATAT

• The 'SATAT' (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) scheme on CBG was launched on 1.10.2018 which envisages targeting production of 15 MMT of CBG from 5000 plants by 2023.
• Oil Marketing Companies have offered long term pricing on CBG to make projects bankable and have agreed to execute long term agreements on CBG.
• The Minister said that Bio-manure, an important by-product of CBG Plants, is also in the process of being included in Fertilizer Control Order 1985.
• This will make it easier to market and provide an opportunity for organic farming across the country as the 5000 CBG Plants are expected to produce 50 MMT Biomanure.

CBG potential of Tamil Nadu

• On the CBG potential of Tamil Nadu from existing waste and biomass sources, Shri Pradhan said that utilizing about 2.4 MMTPA of it shall result in setting up of around 600 Plants across the State which would result in the investment of about Rs. 21,000 crore and direct employment potential of about 10,000.
• CBG produced from the Plant can fuel more than 1000 vehicles per day in Salem – Namakkal region. The Biogas Plant shall also fuel 2 industries with green alternative fuel.
• The Minister said that there is immense potential in India's Oil and Gas sector and the projects that have been initiated in the recent past would go a long way in ensuring India’s energy security.

About Biogas

• Biogas production is growing steadily, as more people are setting up biogas plants to produce biogas.
• Biogas is a renewable, as well as a clean, source of energy.
• The gas generated through bio-digestion is non-polluting and it reduces greenhouse emissions.
• He said “Harnessing the full potential of biofuels to generate alternative energy in various forms, including Compressed Biogas or CBG, ethanol, 2G ethanol, and biodiesel will help achieve our PM Modi's vision of reducing import dependence of oil and ensuring sustainable energy future in the country.”

Importance of CBG

• Government of India has been promoting Biofuels including CBG to increase the green-energy mix, reduce import dependence, create employment especially in semi-urban & rural areas and reduce pollution.
• Usage of CBG shall assist in achieving climate change goals of India as per the Paris Agreement 2015.
• This shall also be in alignment with schemes of Government of India like Swachh Bharat, Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India.

Information about the Country of Origin by the sellers made mandatory on GeM to promote Make in India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat

• Government e-Marketplace (GeM), a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has made it mandatory for sellers to enter the Country of Origin while registering all new products on GeM.
• Further, sellers, who had already uploaded their products before the introduction of this new feature on GeM, are being reminded regularly to update the Country of Origin, with a warning that their products shall be removed from GeM if they fail to update the same. GeM has taken this significant step to promote ‘Make in India’ and ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’.
• GeM has also enabled a provision for indication of the percentage of local content in products.
• With this new feature, now, the Country of Origin as well as the local content percentage are visible in the marketplace for all items.
• More importantly, the ‘Make in India’ filter has now been enabled on the portal.
• Buyers can choose to buy only those products that meet the minimum 50% local content criteria.
• In case of Bids, Buyers can now reserve any bid for Class I Local suppliers (Local Content > 50%).
• For those Bids below INR 200 crore, only Class I and Class II Local Suppliers (Local content > 50% and > 20% respectively) are eligible to bid, with Class I suppliers getting purchase preference.
• Since its inception, GeM is continuously working towards the promotion of the ‘Make in India’ initiative. 
• The Marketplace has facilitated the entry of small local sellers in Public Procurement while implementing ‘Make in India’ and MSE Purchase Preference Policies of the Government in the true sense.
• GeM is enabling quick, efficient, transparent and cost-effective procurement, especially in this hour of need when government organizations require products and services urgently to fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The purchases through GeM by Government users have been authorised and made mandatory by Ministry of Finance .

International Comparison Program,2017

Purchasing Power Parities and the size of Indian Economy: Results from the 2017 International Comparison Program

• The World Bank has released new Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) for the reference year 2017, under the International Comparison Program (ICP), that adjusts for differences in the cost of living across economies of the World.
• Globally 176 economies participated in the 2017 cycle of ICP.

International Comparison Program (ICP)

• The International Comparison Program (ICP) is the largest worldwide data-collection initiative, under the guidance of UN Statistical Commission (UNSC), with the goal of producing Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) which are vital for converting measures of economic activities to be comparable across economies.
• Along with the PPPs, the ICP also produces Price Level Indices (PLI) and other regionally comparable aggregates of GDP expenditure.
• ICP provides the data of : PPP, PLI and GDP expenditures.
• India has participated in almost all ICP rounds since its inception in 1970.
• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is National Implementing Agency (NIA) for India, which has the responsibility of the planning, coordinating and implementing national ICP activities.
• India is also proud to have been a co-Chair of the ICP Governing Board along with Statistics Austria for the ICP 2017 cycle.

WORLDWIDE STATUS

• The Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) of Indian Rupee per US$ at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) level is now 20.65 in 2017 from 15.55 in 2011. (Decreased)
• The Exchange Rate of US Dollar to Indian Rupee is now 65.12 from 46.67 during same period.
• The Price Level Index (PLI)—the ratio of a PPP to its corresponding market exchange rate—is used to compare the price levels of economies, of India is 47.55 in 2017 from 42.99 in 2011.
• In 2017, India retained and consolidated its global position, as the third largest economy, accounted for 6.7 percent ($8,051 billion out of World total of $119,547 billion) of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of PPPs as against China (16.4%) and United States (16.3%), respectively.
• India is also the third largest economy in terms of its PPP-based share in global Actual Individual Consumption and Global Gross Capital Formation.

REGIONAL STATUS: ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

• In 2017, India retained its regional position, as the second largest economy, accounting for 20.83 % (HK$ 48,395 billion out of Asia-Pacific total of HK$ 232,344 billion) of Regional Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in terms of PPPs whereas China was at 50.76% (first) and Indonesia at 7.49% (third). India is also the second largest economy in terms of its PPP-based share in regional Actual Individual Consumption and regional Gross Capital Formation.
• Among 22 participating economies in the Asia-Pacific region, the Purchasing Power Parities (PPPs) of Indian Rupee per Hong Kong Dollar (HK$) at the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) level is now at 3.43 in 2017 from 2.97 in 2011. The Exchange Rate of Hong Kong dollars to the Indian Rupee is now at 8.36 from 6.00 during the same period. The Price Level Index (PLI of India is now at 64.00 in 2017 from 71.00 in 2011.

YUKTI 2.0

About YUKTI 1.0

• Union Minister for HRD Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal “Nishank” has launched a web-portal YUKTI (Young India Combating COVID with Knowledge, Technology and Innovation) .
• It’s a unique portal and dashboard  to monitor and record the efforts and initiatives of MHRD.
• The portal intends to cover the different dimensions of COVID-19 challenges in a very holistic and comprehensive way.
• In the wake of COVID-19 threat, our primary aim is to keep our academic community healthy, both physically & mentally and to enable a continuous high-quality learning environment for learners.
• The portal is an effort of HRD Ministry to achieve this goal in these difficult times.
• It will cover the various initiatives and efforts of the institutions in academics, research especially related to CoVID, social initiatives by institutions and the measures taken for the betterment of the total wellbeing of the students.
• The portal will cover both qualitative and quantitative parameters for effective delivery of services to the academic community at large.
• The portal will also allow various institutions to share their strategies for various challenges which are there because of the unprecedented  situation of COVID-19 and other future initiatives.
• The portal will also establish a two-way communication channel between the Ministry of HRD and the institutions so that the Ministry can provide the necessary support system to the institutions.
• He said that we are confident that this portal will help in critical issues related to student promotion policies, placements related challenges and physical and mental well-being of students in these challenging times.

About YUKTI 2.0

• YUKTI 2.0 is a logical extension of an earlier version of ‘YUKTI’, an initiative of MHRD, to identify ideas relevant to the COVID pandemic.
• The minister appreciated the initiative and said that our Prime Minister has given us the mission of making Bharat ‘Atmanirbhar’ and, YUKTI 2.0 initiative is a very important step in that direction. 
• This initiative helps the youth to convert their ideas into enterprises.
• More importantly, initiatives like YUKTI 2.0 will also help in fostering the culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in our academic institutions.

Government declares Minimum Support Price for Mature Dehusked Coconut

• The government of India has declared Minimum Support Price for mature dehusked coconut for the season 2020 at Rs. 2700/- per quintal, thus hiking the MSP by 5.02% from Rs. 2571/- per quintal during the season 2019. 

Homogeneous Development

• This decision has given utmost importance to the interests of farmers growing all kinds of crops throughout the country.
• The hike in the MSP for mature dehusked coconut facilitates procurement of fresh coconut thereby ensuring that the benefit of MSP reaches the millions of smallholder coconut farmers.
• Shri Tomar said that coconut being a small holder’s crop, aggregation and arranging copra making facility at farmer’s level is not common.
• Even though MSP for milling copra is Rs. 9960/- per quintal for the 2020 crop season, the declaration of higher MSP for dehusked coconut ensures immediate cash to the small farmers, who are unable to hold the product and who are having insufficient facilities for copra making. 
• This will be a relief to the coconut farmers who are already affected by the pandemic and the consequent disruption in the supply chain.

ULV sprayer through drones

To overcome the limitation of importing equipment, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers’ Welfare (DAC&FW), under the Make in India initiative, has taken up the challenge to indigenously develop a vehicle-mounted ULV sprayer for locust control.

Importance of drones to control locusts

• At present, the sole supplier of vehicle-mounted sprayers is M/s Micron Sprayers, UK. A supply order for 60 nos. of sprayers was placed on the firm in February 2020.
• However, the ground control vehicles with sprayers used for locust control can spray up to a height of 25-30 ft only.
• The tractor-mounted sprayers also have a limitation in reaching inaccessible areas and tall trees.
• Therefore, the necessity of exploring the aerial spray option was explored.
• During a review, Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare Shri Narendra Singh Tomar directed that deployment of Drones should be explored for Locust control.
• As the existing policy guidelines issued by the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) did not permit the use of drones with a payload of pesticides, so DAC&FW requested MoCA for permitting the same and the Ministry of Civil Aviation approved a conditional exemption to Government entity i.e. Directorate of Plant Protection, Quarantine & Storage, Faridabad (DPPQ&S) for Drone operations for locust control on 21.05.2020.
• Subsequent to the conditional exemption given by MoCA, two firms were empanelled for providing services of drones for a spray of pesticides for Locust control.
• The food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations has appreciated that India is the first country in the world which is controlling Desert Locust through Drones.