Sagar Vani
- Sagar Vani is an app developed by Ministry of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forests & Climate Change, on the occasion of Foundation Day of Ministry of Earth Sciences.
- It is an integrated Information dissemination system serving fishermen community with the advisories and alerts towards their livelihood as well as their safety at Sea.
- The information to be disseminated is given by INCOIS under Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
- The system also has facility to provide access to various stakeholders NGOs, State Fishery Departments, Disaster Management Authorities; they will further disseminate these ocean information and alerts to the user community.
Soil Health Card scheme
- Soil Health Card is a report that recommends ways to improve the soil quality, appropriate dosage of nutrients for improving soil health and its fertility and analyse the nutrient level.
- The card reviewed for every 2 years to examine nutrients deficiencies.
- The salient features of SHC include adoption of uniformed approach towards samples collection, testing in laboratories and coverage for all the land in the country.
- Under this scheme 12 soil health parameters such as primary nutrients (NPK), secondary nutrients (such as sulphur) and micronutrients (boron, zinc, copper etc.), are being analysed.
- Secondary nutrients and micronutrients analysis are compulsory.
- It gives crop-wise recommendation of appropriate dosage of fertilizers and nutrients.
- The scheme is implemented on 50:50 sharing pattern between centre and state.
Green Climate Fund
- Accreditation Master Agreement (AMA) has recently been signed between Green Climate Fund (GCF) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
- With this agreement, NABARD has become the first entity from India to be accredited as Direct Access Entity (DAE) to GCF.
- The signing of AMA is an essential first step for accessing the GCF resources to help safeguard the lives, property and livelihoods of people against climate change impact.
- GCF is an international mechanism set up at the Conference of the Parties-16 (COP-16) in Cancun in 2010.
- As per the international agreement, advanced economies should provide an annual assistance of $100 billion, through public and private sources, by 2020 — the deadline is now extended to 2025.
- It supports both climate change adaptation and mitigation projects in developing countries.
CCI and TRAI
- Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are fighting on the question of which agency to monitor anti-competitive tariffs in the telecom sector.
- CCI is a statutory body, established in 2003, responsible for enforcing The Competition Act, 2002 throughout India.
- The Competition Act is implemented mainly to prevent activities that have an adverse effect on competition in India.
- TRAI is the regulator of the telecommunications sector in India.
- One of its main objectives is to provide a fair and transparent environment that promotes a level playing field and facilitates fair competition in the market.
- TRAI regularly issues orders and directions on various subjects such as tariffs, interconnections, quality of service, Direct To Home (DTH) services and mobile number portability.
Alternat0ive Investment Fund
- SEBI recently allowed Category III Alternative Investment Funds to participate in the commodity derivatives market.
- Harmony Hedge Fund became the first category III Alternative Investment Fund and first institutional investor to register on Multi Commodity Exchange.
- Anything alternate to traditional form of investments gets categorized as alternative investments.
- AIF are privately pooled investment fund, in the form of a trust or a company or a body corporate or a Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) which are not presently covered under the jurisdiction of any regulatory agency in India.
Typhoon “Noru”
- The typhoon ‘Noru’, originated in south-east of Japan had marked the beginning of the Monsoon season in the North-West Pacific.
- This is only the second time since 1950 that the first typhoon of the season materialised in the North-West Pacific.
- It is predicted that the typhoon may usurp the Indian monsoon during this period.
- The Indian monsoon flows will be pulled across the peninsular tip into the Bay of Bengal to feed the Pacific storms.
Nirbhaya Fund
- Government of India has set up a dedicated fund called Nirbhaya Fund for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security of women in the country.
- Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal authority for appraisal of the schemes received under Nirbhaya Fund.
- Ministry of Finance has set up an Empowered Committee to assist Ministry of Women and Child development in approving the Schemes.
- The concerned Ministries take up the sanction and implementation of the schemes approved by the Ministry.
