Prelim Bits 09-04-2023 & 10-04-2023 | UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Current Affairs

Guardian Ring Program

Yoga Mahotsav 2023 is an event to commemorate 100 days countdown to the 9^th edition of International Day of Yoga 2023.

The International Yoga Day is being observed today on 21 June across the world.
‘The Guardian Ring’ is a unique and innovative programme envisaged for International Yoga Day, 2022.
Theme for 2022 - Yoga for humanity
Implementation - The programme involved collaboration with Ministry of Ayush and Ministry of External Affairs.
Participants - The programme is a collaborative exercise between 79 countries and United Nations organisations along with Indian Missions abroad.
The programme celebrates the movement of the Sun, underlining the concept of ‘One Sun, One Earth’.
Program - From East to West, people from all countries welcomed the Sun with Yoga with Surya Namaskar or sun-salutation.
Starting from Fiji in the east it moves westward and end in San Francisco.
People performing yoga in 16 different time zones along with the rise of the sun was exclusively live-streamed on DD-India.

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The Prime Minister inaugurated 600 Pradan Mantri Kisan Samruddhi Kendras (PMKSK).

The Pradhan Mantri Sammridhi Kendra (PMKSK) will serve as a one-stop shop for Indian farmers buying quality agri-inputs such as fertilisers, seeds, or pesticides.
PMKSK is also known as the Model Fertilizer Retail Shop.
Under the scheme, the retail fertiliser shops in the country will also be converted into PMKSK in a phased manner.
Ministry - Ministry of Chemicals & Fertilisers.
Objective - PMKSKs are designed to create awareness among farmers about the balanced use of fertilisers (including organic fertilisers and micronutrients).
Services - The Pradhan Mantri Sammridhi Kendra will cater to the needs of the farmers in the country.
It will provide agri-inputs including testing facilities for soil, seeds and fertilisers.
Apart from this, they will also create awareness among the farmers and provide information regarding various government schemes.
The extended services like crop advisories or good farming practices, will be provided by Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) or agriculture universities.

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‘Support for Irrigation Modernization Program’ (SIMP) is a new initiative to modernize Major / Medium Irrigation (MMI) projects in the country.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is providing technical assistance for SIMP
Objective - To improve Water Use Efficiency, increase crop water productivity and ultimately increase farmer’s income
Implementation - Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti in the command area of the project.
Managing Agency - Central Irrigation Modernization office (CIMO) under Central Water Commission (CWC) has been setup for overall implementation and management of the programme.
SIMP is proposed to be taken up in 4 phases.
SIMP Phase-1 concluded on 31.12.2021 and SIMP Phase-2 has been initiated.

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The National Hydrology Project (NHP) is a pan-India scheme to bring transformation in the water resources sector improve water management through informed decision making.
Fund - Central Sector scheme sponsored by Ministry of Jal Shakti with 50% of budget as financial aid from the World Bank.
Timeline - 8 years from 2016-17 to 2023-24.
Lead Agency - Ministry of Jal Shakti
Implementing Agencies - 49 agencies including 10 from Central Government and 39 from States.
Objective - To improve the extent, quality and accessibility of water resources information and to strengthen the capacity of targeted water resources management institutions in India.
Beneficiaries - The project has 2 groups of direct beneficiaries:
1. Central and state implementing agencies (IAs) responsible for surface and/or groundwater planning and management
2. Other stakeholders including general public and farmers.
Under the NHP, National Water informatics Centre (NWIC), a nationwide repository of water resources data has been established.

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National Water Mission is one of the 8 missions under National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC)
The Mission was launched in 2008 along with other 8 missions.
Aim - Conserving water, minimizing wastage and ensuring more equitable distribution through integrated water resource management.
The National Water Mission will develop a framework to increase the water use efficiency by 20%.
It calls for strategies to tackle variability in rainfall and river flows such as rainwater harvesting and more efficient irrigation systems like sprinklers or drip irrigation.

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