Prelim Bits 22-07-2021 | UPSC Daily Current Affairs
iasparliament
July 22, 2021
Honey Mission Programme
This mission was launched in 2017-18 by Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC), under the Ministry of MSME.
This mission promote Bee Keeping activities and provide self-sustaining employment opportunities among farmers, Adivasies and unemployed youth in rural India, mainly in economically backward and remote areas.
Launched in 2017 in line with the ‘Sweet Revolution’, the mission provided with Bee Boxes, live bee colonies, tool kits and training to the beneficiaries.
[The 'Sweet Revolution' was launched in 2016 to promote beekeeping and associated activities.]
National Beekeeping & Honey Mission
The National Beekeeping & Honey Mission (NBHM) was announced as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat scheme. The government allocated Rs. 500 crore for NBHM for three years (2020-21 to 2022-23).
NBHM aims for the overall promotion & development of scientific beekeeping in the country to achieve the goal of ‘Sweet Revolution’ which is being implemented through National Bee Board (NBB).
The main objective of NBHM is,
To promote holistic growth of beekeeping industry for income & employment generation for farm and non-farm households,
To enhance agriculture/ horticulture production, developing infrastructural facilities, including setting up of Integrated Beekeeping Development Centre (IBDC)s, honey testing labs, etc.
To empower women through beekeeping.
Besides, the scheme also aims to,
Create awareness about scientific bee keeping ( Mini Mission-I),
Post-harvest management of beekeeping, beehive products, including collection, processing, storage, marketing, value addition, etc. (Mini Mission-II) and
Research & Technology generation in beekeeping (Mini Mission-III).
It also aims to make farmers aware about the
Distribution of specialized Beekeeping equipments for producing high value products, viz. Royal Jelly, Bee Venom, Comb Honey, etc,
Studies on exploring potential of High Altitude Honey, production of special honey in Kannauj & Hathras Districts of UP and
Use of mustard honey to cure colon cancer.
Boosting Production of Pulses
The seed minikits of pulses are distributed to the farmers of major pulse growing States under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM).
[National Food Security Mission (NFSM) aims to increase production of rice, wheat, pulses, coarse cereals and commercial crops, oil seeds and oil palm through area expansion and productivity enhancement.]
The district wise allocation and distribution of seed minikits is managed by the respective State Governments.
Under NFSM, the States transfer the benefit to the targeted beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) by using Aadhar enabled system.
Production and productivity of pulses under seed minikits programme is primarily monitored by State Government field functionaries and State Food Security Mission Executive Committee (SFSM-EC).
[SFSM-EC is headed by Chief Secretary/Agriculture Production Commissioner.]
Field visits of seed minikits fields are undertaken by National Level Monitoring Teams (NALMOTS) constituted by Agriculture Department.
Man Portable Anti-tank Guided Missile
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight-tested indigenously developed Man Portable Antitank Guided Missile (MPATGM).
MPATGM is a third generation, low weight, fire and forget Missile.
The missile is incorporated with state-of-the-art Miniaturized Infrared Imaging Seeker along with advanced avionics.
H5Nx Virus
IDSP State Surveillance Unit (SSU), Haryana has initiated an epidemiological investigation into the first human case of H5Nx Bird Flu.
H5Nx (H5N8, H5N2, H5N6,etc) are highly pathogenic avian influenza A viruses (AIVs) include, etc.,
H5N8 and H5N2 have caused major economic losses in the poultry industry in Europe and North America, and
H5N6 virus has occurred in Asia causing lethal human infections.
AIVs naturally circulate in wild aquatic birds, such as ducks, geese, swans, gulls, shorebirds, and terns.
The H5 subtypes can present considerable risk to the human population.
To know more about Avian Influenza Viruses, click here.
Warm Covid Vaccine
Mynvax, a vaccine technology startup, incubated by the Society for Innovation and Development (SID) at the Indian Institute of Science, will bring a thermo-tolerant Covid vaccine to the market.
This Vaccine formulation remained stable at 37 degrees Celsius up to a month, and at 100 degrees Celsius for up to 90 minutes.
This stability of the vaccine makes it a “warm” Covid Vaccine.
This unique heat tolerant attribute of the vaccine helps to increase access to the vaccine across the country.
