UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 05-02-2021
iasparliament
February 05, 2021
Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority
It is a Statutory Authority under the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Government of India.
It was constituted in 2010 under the Warehousing (Development and Regulation) Act, 2007.
It regulates and ensures implementation of this 2007 Act for the development and regulation of warehouses.
It implements and regulates the Negotiable Warehouse Receipt (NWR) /electronic-NWR (e-NWR) System in the country.
It also promotes orderly growth of the warehousing business.
It consists of a Chairperson and two Members appointed by the Central Government.
Solar Energy Corporation of India
Set up in 2011, Solar Energy Corporation of India ltd is the only Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU) dedicated to solar energy sector.
It comes under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
Its vision is to build ‘Green India’ through harnessing abundant solar radiation and to achieve energy security for the country.
It was to facilitate the implementation of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) and achievement of targets set therein.
Originally, it was incorporated as a Section-25 (not for profit) company under the Companies Act, 1956.
However, it has recently been converted into a Section-3 company under the Companies Act, 2013.
The mandate of the company has also been broadened to cover the entire renewable energy domain.
It is responsible for implementation of a number of schemes of MNRE,
Viability Gap Fund (VGF) schemes for large-scale grid-connected projects under JNNSM,
Solar park scheme and grid-connected solar rooftop scheme,
A host of other specialised schemes such as defence scheme, canal-top scheme, Indo-Pak border scheme etc.
The company also has a power trading license and trades the solar power from projects set up under the schemes being implemented by it.
MetroNeo
By making a sizeable allocation for MetroNeo in the Union Budget, the government has paved the way for innovative system of mass transport.
MetroNeo is to be adopted for the first time in the country in Maharashtra’s Nashik.
It is to be implemented by the Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (Maha-Metro).
MetroNeo is a rapid, energy-efficient and less noisy transport medium.
It consists of electric bus coaches, and Feeder Bus will be battery-powered and run on the existing road on the two feeder routes.
The feeder bus batteries will get charged while operating on the main corridors that will enable seamless travel with a wider coverage.
No separate charging facility will be required.
Micro Irrigation Fund
A Budget announcement has been made to double the initial corpus of Micro Irrigation Fund (MIF) of Rs. 5000.
During 2018-2019, MIF with a corpus of Rs. 5000 Crore was created with National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD).
The fund’s objective is to facilitate the States in mobilizing the resources to provide top up or additional incentives to farmers for incentivising micro irrigation beyond the provisions available under PMKSY-PDMC.
[PMKSY-PDMC is the ‘Per Drop More Crop’ component of Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana]
States may also access MIF for innovative integrated projects including projects in Public-private partnership (PPP) mode depending on State specific requirements.
The Government of India provides 3% interest subvention on loans extended to State Govt. under MIF.
Per Drop More Crop
PMKSY-PDMC is implemented in all States of the country from 2015-16 by the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation & Farmers Welfare.
PDMC, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme, focuses on enhancing water use efficiency at farm level through Micro Irrigation.
It supports micro level water storage or water conservation/management activities to supplement source creation for Micro Irrigation.
Further, the scheme has been effective in terms of ensuring benefits for farmers. e.g. higher productivity; reduction in labour cost, etc.
KAPILA
In 2020, the Government has launched the Kalam Program for Intellectual Property Literacy and Awareness (KAPILA) Campaign.
It is a campaign for creating Intellectual Property Literacy and patent awareness.
The objectives of the scheme include creating awareness regarding,
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs),
Enabling of IP protection of inventions originating from faculty and students of HEIs,
Development of Credit Course on IPR,
Training program on IPR for faculty and students of HEIs and
Sensitization and development of vibrant IP filing system.
Snake Eel
A new species of snake eel has been discovered from the ports of Paradip in Odisha and Petuaghat harbour in West Bengal.
The name proposed for the new species is ‘Indian fringe-lip eel’ or Cirrhimuraena indica.
The new species belonged to the same clade as Cirrhimuraena chinensis and was separated from it morphologically and genetically.
Cirrhimuraena chinensis is a tropical, marine eel that is known from China and Papua New Guinea, in the western Pacific Ocean.
Cirrhimureaena genus is represented in Indian waters by Cirrhimuraena playfairii or the fringe-lip snake eel in the Godavari estuarine system.
