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.
