It will fund countries with high burden of diseases stemming from lack of sanitation services and have the least ability to respond to them.
The fund is hosted by the UN Office for Project Services, which provides technical advice and project implementation to the UN and its partners.
The objectives of the Fund are:
Expanding household sanitation
Ensuring menstrual health and hygiene
Providing sanitation and hygiene in schools and healthcare facilities
Supporting innovative sanitation solutions
New Gecko in the Eastern Ghats
A new species of lizard Cnemaspis avasabinaem, commonly known as Sabin’s Nellore dwarf gecko, has been discovered in the Eastern Ghats.
It is the smallest known Indian gekkonid that lives in dry evergreen forest and measures less than 2.9 cm (snout to vent length).
The most interesting find was that the males lacked femoral pores.
Generally, most variants of lizards have femoral pores in both the sexes, and the secretions from these pores help in communication.
In India, 45 species of genus Cnemaspis have been found, of which 34 are from the Western Ghats.
This dwarf gecko is the twelfth species of the genus to be discovered outside the Western Ghats.
This discovery suggests that the genus may be even more widely distributed than previously thought.
ECLGS 2.0
Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme (ECLGS) 2.0 was expanded by the National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company Limited (NCGTC).
Under the scheme, 100% loan guarantee would be provided by NCGTC.
While the ECLGS 1.0 will remain, the ECLGS 2.0 will cover entities in 26 stressed sectors identified by Kamath Committee, plus the health sector.
These entities should have a credit outstanding of above Rs. 50 crore and up to Rs. 500 crore as on February 29, 2020.
It provides a one-year moratorium on loans and four years.
Facility under ECLGS 2.0 shall be on ‘Opt-in’ basis - to enable eligible borrowers to choose whether they wish to opt in the GECL facility.
The borrower accounts should be less than or equal to 30 days past due as on February 29, 2020.
20% of credit dues will be given as working capital without collateral.
The rate of interest charged by banks will not exceed 9.25%.
It will be extended to the scheduled commercial banks, financial institutions, NBFCs, eligible MSMEs/business enterprises, individual borrowers and Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) borrowers.
Honey FPO Programme
Agriculture Ministry has launched five Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) for producing honey.
These FPOs would be set up with the help of National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED).
5 FPOs - East Champaran (Bihar), Morena (Madhya Pradesh), Bharatpur (Rajasthan), Mathura (Uttar Pradesh) and Sunderbans (West Bengal).
Through these FPOs, NAFED would help bee-keepers and honey collectors in branding, collective marketing, and also explore overseas markets for them.
